German Minister of Economy and Energy Peter Altmeier believes it would be wrong to connect the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project and the situation surrounding Russian blogger Alexey Navalny.
"We should not link the completion of Nord Stream 2 with the Navalny case. We should evaluate and decide on the construction and completion of the pipeline regardless of separate affairs," he said in an interview with Funke Mediengruppe, published on Sunday. "In the past 50 years, gas supplies have never been a political weapon in relations between the East and West. This benefited [the stability of] our gas supplies."
"We need to assess it all very carefully before deviating from this policy," the minister added.
Altmeier reiterated that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project construction was approved by national governments long ago. "The project have been approved by authorities of various European countries, in accordance with legislative procedures," TASS cited him as saying.
At the same time, the German minister urged to make sure that Ukraine’s interests are not violated when the project is completed. In his words, "gas transit via Ukraine will continue even after the completion [of Nord Stream 2]."
"Besides, by building so-called liquefied natural gas terminals, we will make sure that we do not depend on pipeline deliveries, if Russia tries to exert political pressure by means of gas supplies," the minister added.
