Construction of gas pipeline "South Stream" begins at the 'Russkaya' compressor station site near Anapa. The 900 kilometer long and maximum 2 kilometer deep "South Stream" will carry Russian gas to southern Europe through the Black Sea. South Stream begins from Russia's Anapa on the Black Sea shore, crosses the sea and comes to Bulgaria. Further transportation will be made via territories of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to northern Italy. From the territory of Serbia, there will be gas transporting lines to Croatia and to the Republic of Srpska. The new pipeline will be able to carry 63 billion cubic meters gas. The first gas is expected to be pumped through the pipeline in 2015, and export some 63 billion cubic meters to southern Europe.

After beginning of construction, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz told reporters, that Turkey is not planning to take part in the South Stream gas pipeline project, being more interested in Nabucco-West and the Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline projects.

However, Turkey is interested to increase Russian gas imports to satisfy its growing domestic demand, he said and added that it had not yet been decided which route to use for that, either the Blue Stream pipeline or a pipeline traversing Bulgaria.