Even with Turkish Stream, Russia can't avoid sending gas via Ukraine

Gas pipes bearing the flag of Russia lie on the ground near the Serbian village of Sajkas, north of Belgrade, where Serbia ceremonially launched its leg of Russia's South Stream pipeline before the project was cancelled, December 10, 2014. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

BRUSSELS/ESSEN/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's plan to cut out Ukraine as a gas transit route is unrealistic because the EU will seek non-Russian gas rather than build the links it would need to Moscow's proposed new pipeline to Turkey, industry sources and analysts say.

Last year, as violence flared in eastern Ukraine and Moscow faced new sanctions, President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had axed the South Stream gas pipeline across the Black Sea to Bulgaria, designed to bypass Ukraine and ship gas straight to the European Union.