Back room deals: Turkish bravado melts in the cold of winter!

[Reuters] "...."The positions of the Russian Federation and Turkey completely correspond regarding what has to be attained (in Syria), but as of yet no shared approach regarding methods of how to attain it has been reached," Putin told a joint news conference with Erdogan after the talks....Erdogan said Turkey would continue to buy natural gas from Iran despite the prospect of tighter U.S. sanctions aimed at ratcheting up economic pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, who was also in Istanbul, said on Sunday Russia was willing to increase gas supplies to Turkey - Gazprom's second-largest natural gas consumer after Germany - this winter if requested.
Turkish energy officials said Ankara, which usually buys around 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from Russia each year, had requested an additional 3 bcm from Gazprom ahead of an anticipated rise in energy demand in the winter months...."