Steffen Kotrets, spokesman for the Alternative for Germany faction in the Bundestag’s Committee on Economics and Energy, told Izvestia that the party expects to put the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline into operation by the end of the year.
“We expect that the gas pipeline can be put into operation immediately after completion, in any case by the end of this year”, said Cotrets.
The parliamentarian added that he considers the Russian gas pipeline to be an essential component of reliable natural gas supplies to the European and German markets.
Nord Stream-2 is an almost completed pipeline from Russia to Germany with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The United States is actively opposed, which is interested in promoting its LNG to the EU countries, as well as Ukraine and Poland, which call the project political. Washington has imposed sanctions four times in an attempt to obstruct its implementation, but construction has reached its final stages and should be completed by the end of the summer.
Moscow has repeatedly called for an end to politicizing the situation and drew attention to the fact that the pipeline is beneficial not only to Russia, but also to the European Union.