MOSCOW, September 26./TASS/. Russia considers Germany its key partner in Europe, seeing the development of ties with it among priorities, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"Germany is our leading trade-economic partner in Europe, and of course Moscow sees the development, continuation of mutually advantageous cooperation with Germany among its major priorities,’ Peskov said in comments on a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier in the day.

"The president congratulated Angela Merkel on her bloc’s victory in the elections, they discussed issues of bilateral cooperation," the spokesman added.

Nord Stream

The Kremlin is not yet commenting on the fate of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project after Germany forms a new government following national elections.

"The government [of Germany] has not yet been formed. When it will be formed, then it will be possible to speak about something," press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, responding to a question whether the Kremlin is concerned of potential contradictions with the new German government in this regard.

"Nobody made any statements in this regard," Peskov said. "An electoral campaign is one thing and an active government is another thing," he added.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is expected to come into service at the end of 2019. The pipeline is set to run from the Russian coast along the Baltic Sea bed to the German shore. Each of the pipeline’s two stretches will have a capacity of 27.5 bln cubic meters. The new pipeline that is expected to connect the Russian resource base with European customers, will double the capacity of the first line and will basically follow its route.

On Sunday, Germany held parliamentary elections. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc won the polls, securing 33% of the vote, according to the official preliminary results published by Germany’s Federal Returning Officer Dieter Sarreither overnight.

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) comes second with 20.5% of the vote, the worst result in its history. The right-wing Alternative for Germany party will for the first time enter the Bundestag, with 12.6% of the vote. Some 10.7% of Germans backed the Free Democratic Party, while the Green Party and the Left Party took 8.9% and 9.2% of the vote, respectively.