EU Concerns Over Nord Stream 2 Show Kiev More Trusted Than Berlin - Moscow

EU concerns over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project suggest that the European Union considers Ukraine a more reliable transit state than Germany, Russia's Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said Friday.

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was envisioned to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea alongside the original Nord Stream while bypassing Ukraine, aiming to enhance the security of supplies and strengthen the internal energy market.

A number of European countries, such as Poland and Latvia, have voiced concerns over the infrastructure project, arguing that it would increase Europe's energy dependence on Russia.

"There is now a new complaint in the context of the Nord Stream discussions, that after the construction of the Nord Stream 2, 80 percent of Russian gas deliveries to the Western states would take place through the one country, namely Germany… No one remembers that before the construction of the original Nord Stream, 80 percent of our gas was exported through Ukraine… Consequently Germany is considered as a less reliable transit state than Ukraine in the European Union," Chizhov said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 channel on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

SPIEF, held in Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg between Thursday and Saturday, is a major global platform for communication between business representatives. The Sputnik news agency is an official media partner of the forum.