MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. The Kremlin regrets the German authorities are going to suspend the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Tuesday.

"With regret," Peskov replied, in what way Moscow reacted to such statements by Germany.

The Kremlin official recalled that Russia kept saying all the time that this project had no bearing on politics and must not have any.

"This is a purely economic, commercial project, which, alongside yielding mutual benefits, is called to serve as a stabilizing factor for the European gas market. Both providers and recipients of our gas, in the first place, Germany and the other European countries are interested in it," Peskov said.

He stressed that Russia hoped the Nord Stream 2 project would be put on hold only for a short while.

"It is to be hoped that such projects are hindered only for some time, due to various political reasons. The way we see it, this is wrong anyway," Peskov said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Germany’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the German government was suspending the certification of the Nord Stream 2 project following Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics. He said he had asked the Economics Ministry to revoke the energy security report from the Federal Network Agency. "That sounds technical, but it is the necessary administrative step so there can be no certification of the pipeline and without this certification, Nord Stream 2 cannot begin operating," he said.