Ukraine Expects US's Compensations After Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Completed - Top Diplomat

BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th June, 2021) Kiev expects Washington to provide it with compensation after the completion of the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Sunday.

"Nothing is decided until it is finally decided. US determination to compensate [losses to] Ukraine, if the Nord Stream 2 is completed, has clearly grown recently," Kuleba said in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt.

According to the diplomat, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline threatens both economy and security of Ukraine. In this regard, he went on, the project should be used as a lever to encourage Russia to play a constructive role" in the peace process in Donbas.

The conflict in Eastern Ukraine erupted in April 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation against self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics in the Donbas region after they refused to recognize the new government due to legitimacy concerns.

Kuleba also noted that the discussions on the pipeline project are underway between Germany and the United States, but Ukraine does not participate in them.

"If we are offered to negotiate compensation, then we will consider it. But we will not unconditionally agree to what is offered to us," the minister specified.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is nearly complete, is designed to transport natural gas across the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. It has been met with opposition from the US, who views the project as threatening European energy independence and imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on companies and businessmen engaged in it.

Russia insists that the Nord Stream 2 is a purely economic endeavor and vows to finish the construction in the nearest future.