MOSCOW, April 19. /TASS/. The US’ interference in the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project is unceremonious and arouses concern, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with members of the International Council on Cooperation and Investment on Friday.

"The interference of the United States in the process of forming the Nord Stream 2 project is unceremonious. Look at regular public statements by the US ambassador in Berlin, who simply requires the German government to change its position and go against its own interests?" the Minister said.

The Russian Foreign Minister recalled that the European Commission, that had initially received a legal opinion that Nord Stream 2 did not violate the gas directive, did everything to amend that document, so now it retrospectively sets rules for the investments that have already been made.

"The grandfather's clause (a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases - TASS) was completely ignored, although it still seemed an unshakable rule for civilized economic operations and regulation of economic activity," Lavrov said.

Nord Stream 2 pipeline

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is expected to come into service at the end of 2019. The pipeline is set to run along the Russian Baltic Sea coast bed to the German shore. Each of the pipeline’s two stretches will have a capacity of 27.5 bln cubic meters. The new pipeline will double the capacity of the first stretch and will basically follow its route. The total cost of the pipeline is estimated at 9.5 bln euro.

The US strongly opposes the new gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. Washington has repeatedly threatened to impose sanctions on the project and its European participants. According to the Russian authorities, this may be due to an attempt to increase the supply to Europe of American liquefied natural gas, which is significantly more expensive than the Russian pipeline.