However, the EU's executive, the European Commission, insists that it does not see South Stream as a threat, but a 'complementary initiative' to projects like Nabucco, said EU spokesman Martin Selmayr.

Thursday's discussion included talks on Russian bids to build the first nuclear power plants for Turkey in Akkuyu, around 350 km east of Antalya. The bid for the 15.5-billion-euro ($22.3-billion) project was won by Russia together with a Turkish

partner and would be completed in 2020, Putin said.

Putin and Erdogan also spoke about the planned trans Anatolian oil pipeline from the northern Turkish city of Samsun on the Black Sea to the town of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.