MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) - Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is expected to attend talks between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara on Thursday, a Russian government source said.
"Putin and Erdogan will start the 'one-on-one talks' that Berlusconi will join a bit later. His participation is linked with joint energy projects, in the first place, the South Stream gas pipeline project," the government source said.
The South Stream project is designed to annually pump 31 billion cubic meters of Central Asian and Russian gas to the Balkans and onto other European countries along the bed of the Black Sea, with the pipeline's capacity expected to eventually increase to 63 billion cubic meters. The pipeline will run to Bulgaria on to Greece, Serbia, Hungary and Italy.
A Russian government official said on Wednesday citing a draft bilateral protocol that Turkey will give permission for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline across its Black Sea sector.
"The parties will ensure the conditions for approval of the construction," Yury Ushakov, a deputy government chief of staff, said.
Meanwhile, the Turkish media have described Putin's visit to Ankara as "historic."
"Putin's talks in Ankara will focus on energy. The parties will discuss building the Blue Stream -II gas pipeline intended to reach Israel, the implementation of the South Stream gas pipeline, the Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and the construction of a gas storage facility by Russia under Lake Tuz Golu," Turkish NTV channel said.
