Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Archive photoMOSCOW, 18 Jun. Former German chancellor Angela Merkel, in an interview with RedaktionsNetwerk Deutschland, said that Russia did not use gas and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a weapon. «I did not believe in change through trade, but in connection through trade with the second largest nuclear power in the world «, — she commented on the decision to build a gas pipeline. The ex-head of the German government stressed that this step was difficult, since there was a thesis that Russia would stop pumping fuel through Ukraine immediately after the launch of Nord Stream 2. As a result, the West managed to preserve transit. The former chancellor stressed that the gas pipeline was not launched at the time the Russian army launched a special operation in Ukraine.Gas via Nord Stream 2 can be supplied even now, Miller said «In this sense, gas was not a weapon,» she said. Merkel added that it was profitable for Germany to buy pipeline gas from Russia, and not LNG from the countries of the Middle East and USA. She pointed out that the authorities were ready to build terminals for receiving liquefied natural gas, but not a single company under her rule took on such a project due to too high prices for LNG. In February, after Moscow recognized the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, The German government has stopped the certification of the already laid Nord Stream 2. German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said that «the project is actually frozen.» In early March, gas prices in Europe, due to fears of a ban on the import of Russian energy resources, updated their historical highs. The price record of $3,892 was set on March 7 (+275 percent compared to February 23), and the estimated price for the day was $2,560.7 per thousand cubic meters (+146.5 percent).
September 30, 2019, 11:18 Infographic»Nord Stream 2″InfographicView
