ST. PETERSBURG, June 4. /TASS/. The second line of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be completed within 1.5-2 months, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Friday.

"The second line for 27.5 bln [cubic meters] probably will be completed within 1.5-2 months, most likely two, I hope," he said.

The President also noted that the source of gas production in Russia is the cleanest in the world, as it is extracted directly from the ground, without the use of a destructive hydraulic fracturing technology.

"For example, with the help of hydraulic fracturing, the US gas industry extracts about 70% of gas. Gazprom - 11%. But what is produced for Nord Stream 2 comes right out of the ground. There is no hydraulic fracturing at all. And hydraulic fracturing, from the environmental point of view, is a catastrophic method of extraction. There are tens and hundreds of tonnes of chemicals pumped into the ground. It causes direct damage to the environment. We are all talking about environment, but here you go, the best example of what is happening and how," Putin stressed.

Nord Stream 2 is a project to expand the existing Nord Stream gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, bypassing transit states of Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and other Eastern European and Baltic countries. It passes through exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of five countries - Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. The total length of the gas pipeline is 1,230 km.