Vladimir Putin, who is going to Austria...

This is logical, as the black-belted Russian prime minister is honorary president of the European Judo Union.

But the highlight of his visit will be the planned signing of an agreement on Austria"s entry into the South Stream project on April 25. The project is a joint venture between Russia"s Gazprom, Italy"s Eni and Elictricite de France (EdF) to transport Russian natural gas across the Black Sea to Bulgaria and further to Italy and Austria.

The agreement with Austria should complete the international formalities necessary to start building the pipeline. Russia has already signed similar agreements with Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia, and Romania appears to be ready to join the project too.

Austria is the main gas dispatcher for central, eastern and southern Europe; its gas distribution station in Baumgarten on the border with Slovakia handles over 30% of Russian natural gas exports, or approximately 40 billion cubic meters, annually.

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