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German politician hopes Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be used in medium term

Steffen Kotre noted that there could be nothing more absurd than not to use the existing gas pipeline

BERLIN, May 13. /TASS/. Member of the Bundestag committee on climate protection and energy Steffen Kotre hopes that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be used in mid-term perspective.

"I hope that the pipeline can still be used in the medium term," he told a TASS correspondent.

Kotre, who is also an expert on economics and energy at the parliamentary faction of the Alternative for Germany party, was commenting on a recent statement by a spokesman for the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action. The spokesman said then that after Russia launched a military special operation in Ukraine, the project allegedly "really died."

According to Kotre, Nord Stream 2 can become an important trade project and a basis for strengthening ties between East and West. "There can be nothing more absurd than not to use the existing gas pipeline," the politician believes.

On February 22, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the German government was suspending the certification of the Nord Stream 2 project after Russia recognized the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

The construction of Nord Stream 2 was fully completed on September 10, 2021. Initially, it was planned to be completed before the end of 2019, but due to Washington’s sanctions, the construction was delayed. The gas pipeline consists of two strings with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year, which run from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany.

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