WASHINGTON, August 11. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed the appointment of Amos Hochstein as the Department of State’s Senior Advisor for Energy Security, the US top diplomat said in a statement on Tuesday.

"I am appointing Amos Hochstein to serve as the Department’s Senior Advisor for Energy Security, underscoring the Administration’s commitment to promote energy security for the United States and our allies and partners," Blinken said in a statement. "His immediate focus will be implementation of measures to reduce the risks posed by the Nord Stream 2 pipeline."

"This appointment demonstrates the Administration’s resolve to utilize energy diplomacy to ensure the security of supply during this critical time of energy transition, push back against the Kremlin’s use of energy as a geopolitical weapon, and to advance a more secure and sustainable energy future for Ukraine and frontline NATO and EU countries," the statement says.

On Monday, the news portal Axios quoted sources as saying US President Joe Biden had appointed Amos Hochstein, a firm opponent of the gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 as the Department of State's special energy envoy. According to the portal, Germany will appoint its own envoy to work with Hochstein.

Commenting on the report, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia did not stop the dialogue with the United States and would be building relations on the basis of Washington's practical steps. In her words, the United States had many times made statements that "did not go farther than declarations."

Washington openly opposes the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and is making active efforts aimed at blocking the project primarily in order to strike at Moscow's interests and to support Ukraine as a country of transit for Russian natural gas to Europe. In addition, many experts point out that the United States is trying to push supplies of its liquefied natural gas to the European market, which is much more expensive than the Russian pipeline. The legislation adopted in the United States over the past few years provides, among other things, the possibility of applying unilateral restrictive measures against companies participating in the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project.

The project includes the construction of two lines of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 bln cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The throughput capacity of each of line is 27.5 bln cubic meters per year. The new pipeline will double the capacity of the first Nord Stream, the route of which it will largely repeat.

On July 21, Germany and the United States issued a joint statement that Berlin would press for extending Ukraine’s gas transit contracts after 2024. The countries said consultations on the issue are to begin as soon as possible, but no later than September 1.