RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: OIL COULD FLOW THROUGH THIRD COUNTRIES.

In what may be a breakthrough, or possibly only a negotiatingploy, a Russian deputy foreign minister said that Moscow doesnot rule out the possibility that pipelines from Central Asiaand Azerbaijan to the West could pass through countries otherthan Russia, Interfax reported July 16. Albert Chernyshov saidthat "no one denied that part of [the oil] might be transportedthrough Turkey." He said that such routes would have to meettwo criteria: the countries involved would have to be politicallystable, and the project would have to be cost-effective. Chernyshovsaid that he has "certain doubts" about Turkish stability.

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