a minute agoAngela Merkel ögodetww Russia
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)German Chancellor Angela Merkel warns that the North Stream 2 gas pipeline project is not possible without specifying Ukraine's role in the Russian gas transfer to Europe. “It is not possible that due to North Stream 2, Ukraine does not matter for the transit of gas,” said Merkel at a press conference with [...]
“It is not possible that due to North Stream 2, Ukraine does not matter for the transit of gas,” said Merkel at a press conference with Ukrainian President Peter Poroshenko.
North Stream 2 is the expansion of the existing pipeline across the Baltic Sea, which bypasss Eastern European countries involved in the Russian gas transfer to other countries in Europe.
The gas pipeline, which criticises several EU countries and the official Kiev, should allow more Russian gas to reach Germany directly via the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine. With that, Ukraine would be deprived of Moscow's access to gas, which is an important source of income.
Germany has defended North Stream 2 as a purely commercial project, and at the end of March it removed the recent obstacles to its construction and for the use of the Russian gas pipeline in its waters, KosovoPress broadcasts.
The German Chancellor's surprise statement suggests a new dispute with Moscow, writes AFP, under which tensions between the West and Russia have not stopped in recent years, especially due to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, in which pro-Russian separatists oppose Kiev's forces.
