Poland Overestimates Own Value by Calling Nord Stream Blackmail Tool - Lawmaker

Warsaw overestimates own importance by saying that Russia is interested in implementation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project in order to blackmail Poland and other European states, member of the upper house of the Russian parliament Alexey Pushkov said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Saturday, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview that the Nord Stream 2 is a "political project," which is necessary for Russia to "blackmail Central European countries" in the future.

"According to the Polish foreign minister, Russia needs the Nord Stream 2 in order to 'blackmail Poland'. Warsaw highly overestimates its own importance," Pushkov said on Twitter.

The Nord Stream 2 project outlines the construction of two gas pipelines with a combined annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas. The new pipeline will be laid alongside the existing Nord Stream pipeline route, and will run from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea on to a hub in Germany, bypassing Ukraine.

Meanwhile, eight EU member states, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, have voiced their objections of the infrastructure project. The nations even sent a letter to the European Commission president in March 2016, demanding that the construction of the pipeline be blocked over energy security concerns.