Reading the news about the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline construction, one might think that there are two projects with the same name but different fates. While the first one exists in the Russian media, almost launched and even functioning, the second one has been banned and shut down in the western media reports on several occasions.
However, another positive news on the Nord Stream-2 project has been received from an unexpected source. The recent statement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her support for the construction of a gas pipeline. “The new Gas Directive gives the European Commission more opportunities to challenge. However, it will not prevent the project. The project is almost fully approved,” business daily Handelsblatt newspaper quoted the German chancellor as saying. Germany is certainly an interested party, but the main thing is that the existence of the gas pipeline has been finally accepted. Nevertheless, in the same statement, Angela Merkel stressed that the project would be implemented only if Ukraine remained its key transit country.
In other words, the statement of the сhancellor can be regarded as an attempt to simultaneously support the project and establish the conditions that would benefit Germany in every respect. Moreover, US Senate is threatening to impose new sanctions on companies participating in the pipeline construction.
