US, Ukraine to work together to stop Nord Stream-2 project

WASHINGTON/WARSAW/MOSCOW, Nov 19 (PRIME) -- The U.S. and Ukraine will cooperate on halting the construction of Russia-led Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on November 16 after a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin.

The project undermines the economic and strategic security of Ukraine and poses a risk of further undermining the sovereignty of European countries that depend on Russian gas, Pompeo said.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that he would try to persuade Germany of the need to block launch of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. Morawiecki believes that Russia will attack Ukraine and may seize Kiev after Ukraine loses its role of a key gas transition country, which will happen due to the Nord Stream-2 construction.

Russian lawmaker Frants Klintsevich told PRIME that Poland is deliberately escalating tensions in the Russian–Ukrainian relations and fulfilling the U.S. order to prevent launch of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline.

“There is clear definition for that: provocation,” Klintsevich said. “At the same time Poland is also fulfilling the order of the U.S., which is strongly against the Nord Stream-2,” he added.

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. Russian gas giant 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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