MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Nord Stream 2 is the gas pipeline joint venture, which is expected to provide an additional route for the Russian gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea, bypassing the three Baltic countries and Poland. Gazprom started the project with a consortium of five largest European energy companies, including Shell and E.ON.
"We are convinced that Nord Stream 2 will increase Europe's energy supplies and European energy security. This is a purely commercial project, which brings together a number of Western companies…and attempts to block it are, of course, of an entirely political nature. Americans are engaged in this too, trying to create difficulties through their particularly close friends in NATO," Lavrov said.
The Nord Stream-2 project plans to use the original Nord Stream pipeline for 86 percent of the route before branching off. It will be able to provide up to 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas supplies to Europe.
The initial Nord Stream project, started in 2011, was criticized by several eastern European transit countries.
