MOSCOW, Dec 18: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that construction of two new energy pipelines to southern Europe would boost energy security of the continent as a whole.

The pipelines will “give a major boost to the energy security of the entire European continent,” Putin said at a press conference shown on state television after talks with Greek Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis in the Kremlin. Europe depends on Russia for around a quarter of its energy consumption.

Putin was referring to two planned new pipelines, one to pump Russian oil from the Black Sea to the Aegean and another one to pump Russian gas from Russia to Bulgaria and onwards to central and southern Europe.—AFP