Nord Stream 2 to Strengthen EU's Energy Security for Decades to Come, Lavrov Says

Nord Stream 2 to Strengthen EU's Energy Security for Decades to Come, Lavrov Says

“We regard the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as an exclusively commercial, mutually beneficial project. Allegations that it will increase Europe’s dependence on gas supplies from Russia are unfounded”, Lavrov told the Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet in an interview.

Nord Stream 2 will help diversify gas transit routes and ensure sustainable supplies to European consumers along the shortest path, which, in turn, will lead to a decrease in the ecological footprint from its transportation, the minister continued.

“Strategically speaking, Nord Stream 2 will strengthen the energy security of Europe for decades to come. That is why the European capitals interested in the project are firmly in favour of completing the construction of the gas pipeline”, Lavrov stressed.

The Nord Stream 2 project, which is 99% completed, provides for the construction of a 745-mile offshore twin pipeline to supply up to 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas per year from Russia directly to Germany. The United States, Ukraine, and several eastern European states called on the EU to abandon the project, citing the bloc’s perceived overdependence on Moscow.

Russia has insisted that the Nord Stream 2 is a purely commercial endeavour, urging critics to stop politicising it.


©
Sputnik / Dmitrij Leltschuk

Sputnik News

South Africa Today – World News – Europe