Official sees Nord Stream-2 built despite US pressure on EU

MOSCOW, Nov 15 (PRIME) -- The Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline will be constructed despite the political pressure that Washington exerts on the E.U., Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in a conference on Thursday.

On Tuesday, U.S. ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland said that Washington is ready to use many instruments for slow down construction of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline.

“We have all prerequisites for this project to be implemented as of today. This is purely a commercial project, we’ve signed all the necessary contracts, we are conducting works, and we are sure that it will be implemented taking into account economic feasibility of this project,” Grushko said.

“The U.S. representatives have been travelling around the European countries for a long time explaining the political damage that they will suffer, if they agree to continue cooperation with us in the gas sphere that is profitable for the Europeans themselves…But it is pretty clear that the U.S. is trying to push its own gas, which is more expensive, to the European markets behind this political pressure.”

The Nord Stream-2 project envisages construction of two lines of a natural gas pipeline with an annual capacity of up to 55 billion cubic meters, running from the Russian shore to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Gazprom will implement the project together with Germany’s E.ON and BASF, Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV, and France’s Engie.

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