State Duma doesn't rule out Nord Stream 3 construction

Head of the State Duma’s Committee for Financial Markets Anatoly Aksakov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, said today that the Nord Stream 3 project is quite real.

“Of course, everything here will depend on the behavior of our Western and Ukrainian partners. If Ukraine continues to blackmail us and Europe with the uncertainty of gas transit through its territory, the Nord Stream-3 will become very, very real,” he said in the first place.

“It will also depend on Europe' needs. Given the fact that the European Union has very strong green trends, it is likely that it will be necessary to build the Nord Stream-3, because gas is considered environmentally friendly fuel,” Anatoly Aksakov drew attention.

As for Nord Stream-2, the construction of which is currently suspended due to U.S. sanctions, the head of the State Duma’s Committee for Financial Markets expressed confidence that the project will be completed, despite U.S. pressure on European contractors.

“There has been Russia's official statement on this subject that Nord Stream-2 will be completed by the middle of next year, and accordingly, will begin to operate in the second half of the year. You can be sure that this schedule will be respected,” Anatoly Aksakov concluded.

In April 2018, chairman of the Gazprom board Alexander Medvedev said company is ready to build the Nord Stream 3 pipeline, if necessary. In October 2018, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky said that construction of the Nord Stream 3 main gas pipeline is possible in case of growth of natural gas demand in Europe.