The line should have been ready a long time ago, but was stopped when there were only 160 km left to lay.

The United States has criticized the project several times, claiming that Europe could become dependent on energy imports from Russia.

The project is primarily backed by the Russian state-controlled energy company Gazprom.

Companies in Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands have also made major investments.

The company is based in Switzerland.

In December 2019, the project was stopped by US sanctions.

The United States announced that ships operating on Nord Stream 2 must immediately cease all construction activities if they want to avoid sanctions.

Since then, the work has basically stood still.

Now the American media state that the USA has given the go-ahead for the pipeline to be completed after an agreement with Germany.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the agreement is expected to be announced shortly, citing sources in both the US and German governments.

German media, such as the Suddeutche Zeitung and the British news agency Reuters, also reported on Wednesday that an agreement between the USA and Germany is close.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be approximately 2,460 kilometers long.

It is closed in the Swedish economic zone in the Baltic Sea and will supply natural gas from Russia Photo: SVT Design

Summit between Merkel and Biden

Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joe Biden met in the White House.

They should then have discussed Nord Stream 2.

The countries have not yet commented on the data.

But on Wednesday, the Russian government made an official statement, referring to the meeting in Washington between Chancellor Merkel and President Biden.

- We know that a certain understanding has been achieved between Berlin and Washington.

But we do not know any details, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state-run Tass news agency.

Gasbolaget's spokesperson Steffen Hartmann responds in an email to SVT Nyheter that the company does not comment on information in the media.

In an interview in the German Handelsblatt just over a week ago, the company's CEO Matthias Warnig said that 98 percent of the work on the gas pipeline is complete and will be completely completed by the end of August.

The delay is said to have cost the company hundreds of millions of euros, according to Warnig.