ISTANBUL, November 19./TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan displayed courage and political in the project to build the TurkStream gas pipeline, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a ceremony to complete the construction of the pipeline’s offshore section.

"I express gratitude to the president of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Erdogan, for political will and courage he displayed," Putin said to applause. "Why? Because such projects are not put into practice without this amid a growing competition," the Russian president stressed as the applause continued.

"This is what underlies" trust between the two states, Putin added. "Such projects cannot be implemented without this trust," he summed up.

The Russian leader thanked all Turkish colleagues responsible for the issuance of relevant permissions, etc. "All this enabled the construction workers to advance according to the schedule and even ahead of schedule," Putin said. He expressed confidence that along with the construction of the first in Turkey nuclear power plant Akkuyu, the TurkStream project will be the vivid example of the ongoing development of Russian-Turkish partnership and "a pledge of friendship between our peoples".

The president also noted that TurkStream gas pipeline project is not aimed against anyone but demonstrates the skill of countries in protecting national interests.

"Projects of this kind and this project in particular are not aimed against interests of anyone. The project is exclusively creative by nature," the head of state said at the ceremony of construction completion for the offshore segment of the TurkStream. The project "is aimed at developing relations between states, creating sustainable conditions for economic development, and improving the welfare of citizens of our nations on such basis," he said.

"Implementation of the like projects and particularly this one is a bright and good example of the skill of protecting national interests, because the Turkish Stream fully corresponds to interests of the national economy of the Republic of Turkey," Putin said.

In May 2017, Gazprom began construction of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream near the Russian Black Sea coast. The project involved construction of the gas pipeline through the Black Sea to the European part of Turkey and further to the border with Greece. The length of the sea part of the pipe is expected at around 930 km, the overland part on the Turkish territory - 180 km.

The first line will be intended for the Turkish market, the second - for gas supply to the countries of South and South-Eastern Europe. The capacity of each line reaches 15.75 bln cubic meters of gas per year. The first gas supplies were planned for the end of 2019.

Gazprom sees Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary as potential markets.