display
Schwerin / Moscow (dpa) - Before the construction of the Baltic Sea gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 in Danish waters, which is likely to begin in mid-January, Russian and German politicians are hoping for the controversial billion-dollar project to be completed soon.
Those involved have recently managed to continue their work and "come one step closer to completion," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.
Shortly after Christmas, the Nord Stream 2 company reported that work on the 2.6-kilometer section of the pipeline in the German Exclusive Economic Zone had been completed.
The head of the Russian energy company Gazprom, Alexej Miller, said that 94 percent of the pipeline has now been completed - currently more than 2,300 kilometers.
Russia is preparing to continue building the line off the coast of Denmark.
The media reported, citing Danish authorities, that work should start on January 15th.
The Russian laying vessel "Fortuna" is to be used for this purpose.
According to Russian information, other ships are to support the work in the Baltic Sea.
The operating company Nord Stream 2 declined to comment.
display
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) was also pleased with the intermediate result.
«Germany is rightly stepping out of nuclear and coal power.
Then we need gas as a transition technology in addition to the expansion of renewable energies. "
Nord Stream 2 is important for the success of the energy transition and therefore also in the interests of climate protection.
The new threatened US sanctions could at best delay the expansion, but not stop it, emphasized Kremlin spokesman Pekow.
The confidante of Russian President Vladimir Putin described such punitive measures as an “unabashed cowboy attack”.
Should the USA want to prevent the construction with new sanctions, "then it will be necessary to react somehow", said Vice Prime Minister Alexander Nowak.
He left open which steps these could be.
For the raw material superpower, Nord Stream 2 is an economic project from which consumers in Germany benefit because it guarantees energy security.
display
The US has long tried to stop the completion of the pipeline with sanctions and is also threatening German companies.
This also affects the port of Sassnitz-Mukran, where the pipeline pipes are manufactured and stored.
The Americans justify their rejection of the project on the grounds that their European partners are too dependent on Russian gas.
Pipeline proponents accuse the US, on the other hand, of only wanting to sell their liquefied gas better in Europe.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) emphasized that he did not want to give way in the dispute with the USA over Nord Stream 2, even after the upcoming change of power in the White House.
"We do not need to talk about European sovereignty if it is understood that in the future we will only do everything as Washington wants," he told the German press agency.
"The federal government will not change its stance on Nordstream 2."
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's energy minister Christian level (SPD) said that a European joint project that has all the necessary permits must not be torpedoed because of the economic interests of another state.
With Nord Stream 2 and the transnational forwarding of Russian natural gas, Germany is contributing to pan-European energy security.
The existing Nord Stream 1 pipeline will reach its limits.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210101-99-866923 / 2