MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. The European Parliament’s resolution against the construction of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline has been adopted under the pressure of the United States, which is a manifestation of unfair competition, State Duma (Russia’s lower house of parliament) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told reporters on Thursday.

"Obviously, the European Parliament has made the decision under the US pressure. Calls for halting a project that is economically viable for European countries and their citizens are heard after repeated sanctions threats from the side of the US Congress against companies participating in the Nord Stream 2 construction," he said. "That is nothing more than unfair competition supported by politicians proclaiming democracy and free economic principles," Volodin added.

The lower house speaker considers it unacceptable to stand up for economic interests of particular countries through political pressure. "In the lead-up to European Parliament elections the European voters should give it some thought as to whose interests their representatives in that European structure look after," he emphasized.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the report "On Implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement," which condemned the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, that being a political project that poses a threat to the European energy security and efforts on diversification of energy supply sources. According to the resolution, the European Parliament requests cancellation of the project.

About Nord Stream 2

As was reported in late November around 300 kilometers of pipes had already been laid within the Nord Stream 2 project. Two threads of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline are expected to be built by the end of 2019. The project’s total capacity is 55 bln cubic meters of gas per year. The cost of construction is estimated at 9.5 bln euro.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said earlier that the compliance with the construction schedule allows speaking about possible launch of gas supplies via the gas pipeline starting January 1, 2020.

The pipeline 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. Denmark is the only country that has not granted its permit for the construction of the pipeline in its waters. The country plans either to block or to postpone the implementation of the project.