BRUSSELS, May 31. /TASS/. Russian Permanent Representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov believes that Washington’s efforts to block the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction project will fail.
"Speaking about the situation in Germany, the largest EU country, we see that Germans have played themselves into a rather difficult situation due to their decisions, part of which have already become legally binding, as they have to abandon simultaneously nuclear and coal energy," he said on Friday. "That is why it is necessary to regard the firm position of the German government supporting Nord Stream 2 as the objective economic interest instead of altruism and affection for Russia," the diplomat added.
"As for the sand that the US is trying to throw in the wheels itself or using others, which is quite obvious and notable, I do not think that it will hinder the implementation of Nord Stream 2," he emphasized.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is expected to come into service at the end of 2019. The pipeline is set to run from the Russian coast along the Baltic Sea bed to the German shore. It will go through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of five countries - Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany, thus bypassing transit countries of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and other Eastern European and Baltic states. Each of the pipeline’s two stretches will have a capacity of 27.5 bln cubic meters. The total cost of the project has been estimated at 9.5 bln euro.
Nord Stream 2 AG, with Gazprom being the only shareholder, is the operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction project. Gazprom's European partners in the project are Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper, Austria’s OMV, France’s Engie and Royal Dutch Shell.