According to the Russian leader, Russia has never abandoned South Stream-related plans. "They simply did not let us implement it," Putin said with regret, citing the European Parliament’s decision of April 2014 to recognize the South Stream project as "not merely unpromising but even harmful to the European Union." After that, they demanded Bulgaria stop preparatory work. Altogether, four months later, the Dutch regulator issued a permit to build the seabed sections of the pipeline (South Stream was registered as an international company in the Netherlands), which "came unexpectedly for me," Putin noted. But it was impossible to issue a permit to an Italian construction company to begin construction works at sea, since there was no permission to enter Bulgaria’s territory. "It is absurd!," Putin said. "We simply were forced to close this project, they did not let us implement it."
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