BERLIN, December 19. /TASS/. Michael Roth, chair of the German Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, said on Sunday that he doesn’t think that Nord Stream-2 is a purely economic project.

"I must admit that Nord Stream 2 is not a purely economic project, even if it is being implemented by a dozen of European companies from 12 EU member nations. Naturally, it has a political aspect and this is what causes headache to many partners in EU," he said in an interview with the radio Deutschlandfunk station.

According to Roth, Germany, including during talks with Moscow, tried to allay Kiev’s fears and gave to understand that the launch of the gas pipeline should not harm Ukraine when no gas is pumped to Europe via its territory.

Roth’s words contrasted the statement by Germany’s new Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who said earlier in the week that Nord Stream 2 is a project involving private investments and the German regulator is not guided by politics when taking decisions on it. The Social Democratic Party of Germany as part of the big coalition (CDU/CSU and SPD) offered political support to the pipeline construction.

The Russian side has repeatedly stressed that Nord Stream 2 is an entirely commercial project that is being implemented jointly with European partners. Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov expressed resentment over attempts of a number of countries to link the future of the project to politically-motivated circumstances. Moscow has also repeatedly stressed that it has never used energy resources as an instrument of pressure.