Turkish officials say Russia has stopped construction work at Turkey's first planned nuclear power plant, amid a bitter row between Moscow and Ankara.
Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border on November 24, prompting Moscow to impose economic sanctions on Ankara.
Unientified Turkish energy officials were quoted as saying on December 9 that Russia's state nuclear company, Rosatom, had not terminated the contract for the building of the plant in the southern Turkish town of Akkuyu, and is reluctant to do so because of the heavy compensation clauses.
However, the officials said Turkey was assessing other potential candidates for the $20 billion project.
The deputy director-general of the Akkuyu Nuclear company, Oleg Titov, denied that construction work had been halted, saying "The works at the site are under way as scheduled."
Turkey commissioned Rosatom in 2013 to build four 1,200-megawatt reactors. The firm, which initially pledged to have the first reactor ready by 2019, began construction work in April.
