KAZAN, October 24. /TASS/. One of the threads of the Nord Stream gas pipeline is still operational, but the German authorities are not restarting it for political reasons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference following the BRICS summit.

"There is still one thread along the bottom of the Baltic Sea - Nord Stream 2. It would take the German authorities just to push a button - and everything starts. But they are not doing this. For political reasons," he said.

The Russian president added that Germany's main partner, which is the United States, "created such conditions that entire sectors of the German economy are moving [out of the country]."

"Because the authorities there create more complimentary conditions for business and the primary energy source is three times cheaper than in Europe, or even four times cheaper," the Russian leader explained.