UPDATE 1-Greece, Russia to cooperate on Turkish Stream pipeline

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ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 19 Greece and Russia signed a memorandum on Friday on extending the planned Turkish Stream gas pipeline to Europe through Greek territory, with financing coming from Russia.

Greek Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said at the signing ceremony in the Russian city of St Petersburg that Greece needed support and not pressure during its debt crisis and that cooperation with Russia was not aimed against other countries or Europe.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Russian state-owned gas producer Gazprom would not own the Greek part of the pipeline.

Novak said ownership would be split in equal parts between Russia and Greece and that financing could come from state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) or other Russian banks. The cost of the project had not been assessed yet, he added.

Under Gazprom's plans, the Turkish Stream pipeline will be split into four lines with a total capacity of 63 billion cubic metres a year. The first line is to supply just Turkey.

The memorandum of understanding was signed during a visit to St Petersburg by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, with time running out for Athens to reach a reforms-for-aid agreement with creditors.

Gazprom plans to build a pipeline to Turkey to provide gas to Europe without going through Ukraine although it has no firm agreement with Ankara and faces opposition from the European Union.

Moscow has stepped up efforts to find alternative gas supply routes to Europe, its biggest market, that avoid Ukraine, since Ukrainian protesters ousted a pro-Russian president last year and Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula.

Gazprom had previously said it would stop the pipeline at Turkish-Greek border where a new gas hub would be created.

($1 = 0.8835 euros) (Reporting by Renee Maltezou, Vladimir Soldatkin and Denis Pinchuk, Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by Katya Golubkova)