Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that there is reason to believe that the Nord Stream 2 project can be implemented in the very near future.
Participants of Nord Stream 2, including Russian, German and other participants, are determined that this project will be completed. As I understand it, there are reasons to believe that this will be done in the very near future, " he said on Tuesday at a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
The Minister stressed that the extraterritoriality of the application of sanctions, as well as the unilateralism resorted to in the US and the EU, were considered unacceptable in Russia. "The European Union, while promoting its unilateral sanctions, at the same time refrains from their extraterritorial application. And the United States here does not see any red lines, no edges, as we say, rudely pursue one simple goal without any diplomatic registration: the United States should have the opportunity and the right to do whatever they want, in world politics, in the world economy, and in general in any sphere of human activity," he explained.
Lavrov pointed out that Washington consistently withdraws from most of the multilateral treaties, organizations and structures that can be considered as constraining the freedom of action of the United States in one way or another. "This, in my opinion, is obvious to everyone, we proceed from this and continue our contacts with the United States, because pragmatism still requires maintaining contacts. We can clearly see how Washington operates in the international arena, not being shy of any methods, which is confirmed by the situation around the Nord Stream 2, " the Russian Foreign Minister concluded.
Pipeline construction
Lavrov and Maas discussed the completion of the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, taking into account the US sanctions pressure. The Russian side highly appreciated Berlin's principled position in support of this commercial initiative.
"From the economic block, we focused on completing the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Of course, we took into account the unprecedented sanctions pressure from the United States. We appreciate Berlin's principled position in support of this exclusively commercial initiative, which will help diversify natural gas supply routes and strengthen Europe's energy security based on the assessments that European countries themselves make, and not on the assessments that are made from overseas," Lavrov said after talks with the German Foreign Minister.
On June 4, Republicans introduced a bill to expand sanctions against Nord Stream 2 to the US Senate. As noted by the press service of one of the authors of the initiative, the document "clarifies and expands sanctions under the law on ensuring energy security of Europe" and aims to prevent the completion of the pipeline. In Germany, plans to expand sanctions against the project were sharply criticized.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS