ST. PETERSBURG, June 4. /TASS/. The completion of the pipe-laying operation for the first string of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is not connected with the United States’ decision to waive sanctions against this project, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"No, this is not the result of the waiver," he said.
When asked whether the project might have problems at the stage of certification and insurance, the Kremlin spokesman said:
"It can be anything."
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.
From the very beginning of construction, Ukraine saw the project as a threat to its interests and demanded that the work be stopped. Even the signing of a new five-year contract with Kiev for the transit of Russian gas to Europe in late 2019 did not change the situation.
Despite repeated statements by the project participants that there are purely economic reasons behind its implementation, the United States announced sanctions, and the construction was suspended in December of 2019.
Later, the pipe-laying was resumed, but now by the Russian Federation itself. The laying was undertaken by two domestic pipe laying vessels - Akademik Chersky and Fortuna.
At the end of May, US President Joe Biden admitted that the construction of Nord Stream 2 is almost complete, and the introduction of additional sanctions against the project would be counterproductive for US relations with Europe.
On Friday, at the plenary session of the SPIEF, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the pipelaying operation for the first string of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was successfully completed and the second string would be ready in 1.5-2 months.