The Nord Stream-2 launch may provoke Russia – Ukraine conflict escalation

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine announced a possible escalation of the conflict with Russia after the launch of the Nord Stream-2.

An alternative way of supplying Russian gas to Europe can lead to an intensification of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia after the completion of the Nord Stream-2 construction.

This was stated by Deputy Foreign Minister for European Integration Elena Zerkal on the air of Radio NT (New Time).

“This is really a security issue, not only Ukrainian, but European in general, and if Nord Stream-2 is built, then we have no guarantees of an escalation of the conflict from Russia anyway, because there is an alternative way of supplying this gas to Europe. The partners of the Nord Stream-2 can be persuaded only through joint efforts with partners such as the US. Independently we have been urging more than two years not to do this, and only recently, when they realized that sanctions are possible against European companies, they began to look for the possible compromises”, she said.

Also, Zerkal added that at the end of this month in Brussels there will be a conference where Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman together with the head of Naftogaz Andrey Kobolev will present the Ukrainian gas transportation system in order to attract foreign investors.

“This is not about sale or renting, it’s about meeting European standards and dash doubts about how the Ukrainian gas transportation system works. Whether it is reliable, can it withstand,” the deputy minister stressed.

Nord Stream-2 is the Russian gas pipeline that Nord Stream-2 AG is building. The only shareholder of the latter is Gazprom. The length of the gas pipeline will be 1.2 thousand km, and the total capacity with the existing North Stream is 55 billion cubic meters of gas.

Nord Stream-2 will run along the Nord Stream gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to the German city of Greifswald in order to minimize gas transfer through Ukraine.

We want to remind that the United States and the countries of Eastern Europe are opponents of the construction of the Nord Stream-2 and believe that its implementation will lead to the actual degradation of the Ukrainian gas transportation system and the strengthening of the Russian Federation in the EU gas market.

At the same time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Berlin will take into account the interests of Ukraine after the launch of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

EMPR

Image credits: UNIAN

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