A deal that could kick-start the Nabucco gas pipeline project and reduce Europe's dependence on Russia was no tragedy for Moscow, a Russian official said on Sunday. Russia opposes the Nabucco scheme and is developing the rival South Stream project to supply Europe.
Moscow signed deals to accelerate South Stream on Friday. "I don't see any tragic events (in this Iraq deal)," Alexander Saltanov, Russia's special presidential representative for the Middle East and deputy minister of foreign affairs, told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Jordan.