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Attempts to undermine Nord Stream 2 project doomed to failure: Russia's Lavrov

Tuesday, 17 August 2021 6:06 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 17 August 2021 6:20 PM ]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (Photo by AFP)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says all future attempts by the US-led Western countries to undermine the Nord Stream 2 project, a sprawling undersea pipeline that will carry Russian gas directly into Germany, are doomed to failure.

"I am convinced that all attempts to undermine it, challenge it, all attempts to surround its completion with some conditions, they are doomed to failure. Although there will be such attempts," Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying on Tuesday.

Lavrov stressed that the companies that are implementing the project "have built it almost to the last mile."

The remarks by the top Russian diplomat come as the construction of the pipeline, which will carry natural gas from Russia to Germany, the Netherlands, and as far away as northern Italy, was set to be completed on August 23.

Lavrov also said that Russia had overcome all legal obstacles on the way to the completion of the project.

"I repeat once again, it is not only the decisions of two countries, Russia and Germany, supported by many members of the European Union that we have on our side, it is also legal correctness [which is also on our side], which we will defend," the minister said.

The $11-billion Nord Stream 2 project, designed to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream pipeline to 110 billion cubic meters per year, has been a focal point of tensions between Moscow and Washington.

The construction of the pipeline has been hampered by embargoes introduced by the United States at the end of 2019, political tensions, and Washington's plans to boost sales of its seaborne liquefied natural gas to Europe. Work on the project was suspended in December 2019 after a Swiss company abandoned pipe-laying operations due to the then-looming US sanctions. In December 2020, the construction of the gas pipeline was resumed after a year's pause.

Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is almost finished: Operator

Russia could begin pumping gas to Europe from its Nord Stream 2 pipeline within the next few months.

Despite long-standing US objections to the project, President Joe Biden's administration concluded in July that it was too advanced to stop.

Senior officials in Moscow have time and again warned that Europe would be the one to suffer from the United States unilateral sanctions against Moscow since the sanctions are only aimed at promoting Washington's commercial interests.

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