President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and other officials attend the inauguration ceremony of the TurkStream pipeline, Istanbul, Jan. 8, 2020. (Sputnik))

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's economic cooperation department, Dmitry Birichevsky, told Sputnik on Saturday that the characteristics of the gas hub project in Turkey are still being assessed.

"As for the direct implementation of this initiative, its parameters are still being discussed, including at the highest level," Birichevsky said, adding that the choice of Turkey as a gas hub was not aleatory.

"Its role as a transit country for Europe has grown significantly in recent years with the commissioning of the TurkStream gas pipeline. At the same time, cooperation between Moscow and Ankara in the gas sector is of a strategic nature and is not subject to political conjuncture," the official said.

A week ago, CNN Turk reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan are planning to discuss energy projects, including the gas hub.

Their next meeting is scheduled to be held this month, in August.

On April 8, former Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said that Ankara had launched the process of drafting legislative amendments for the purposes of facilitating the gas hub project.

He added that a number of European countries have shown an interest in buying gas from the hub, including Hungary and Serbia.

The start of gas sales via the hub is forecasted to start in 2024, he further said.

"We have an opportunity to become an important center of [gas] trade to Eastern European countries. We have taken steps to this end. When our president approves changes to the bill passed by the parliament, new legal measures will be established," the minister told CNN Turk that before adding that "the old law regulated the domestic market. It was more restrictive. With the new law, we have ensured greater freedom."

Turkey has the capacity to import up to 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas, 60% of which will be used domestically while the remaining 40% is to be exported to neighboring countries.

On October 12, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow could redirect gas transit from the Nord Stream pipelines, damaged by an explosion classified by Russia as an act of terrorism, to Turkey. Unprecedented damage was dealt to three out of four Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

On October 14, Erdogan said he and Putin instructed relevant institutions of the two countries to quickly begin work on the idea of creating a hub in Turkey for gas supplies to Europe.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that the project is not limited to the creation of a trading platform in Turkey, but is also aimed at developping infrastructure and increase the flux of gas supplies to Europe.

Other countries that can also join as suppliers include Algeria, Qatar and Azerbaijan, Novak noted.