The work on the TurkStream in Bulgaria and Serbia will be completed in 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Budapest, TASS reported.

“At the end of this year, we will be terminating the whole of TurkAkım. The work in the Black Sea is completed, we will end the work on land. We will close the end of next year with our Bulgarian and Serbian partners. On the territory of Hungary there is only a 15 km line to be laid ," Putin said.

The Russian president stressed that 15 km of Turkish Stream will pass through Hungary, and construction activities can start early next year and end soon enough.

Russia would also welcome if Hungary joins the Turkish Stream pipeline, Putin said, BTA reported.

Russia is ready to significantly lower the price of the gas for Ukraine in direct deliveries, the Russian president noted.

“If Hungary is interested in this, we can reconcile with our colleagues and start this work next year and finish it very quickly. As far as we can imagine, the answer is yes.”, Putin noted.

Putin said he had discussed the prospects of normalizing relations between Russia and the EU, regulating the situation in Ukraine and transit of energy supplies with Orban.

The Russian president stressed that the issue of energy cooperation is high on the agenda with Hungary, as Russia covers about 60 percent of Budapest's oil and 50 percent of its natural gas needs.

According to him, cooperation with Hungary has been established at a high level and everything goes smoothly.