KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th July, 2021) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Russia and Western Europe a weapon that Moscow could use against his country.
"The biggest challenge to Ukraine at the moment in this [energy] sphere is the completion and launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Its operational launch is not related to economics. It is a weapon against Ukraine and, I am certain, will be a weapon against all of Europe in the future," he said.
Zelensky, who spoke at a Ukrainian political forum on Monday, called on Western allies to torpedo the project, which aims to carry 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year across the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied using gas contracts as a tool.
Ukraine's economy relies on Russian gas transit money, but the flow has declined in the past few years. The United States imposed sanctions on the gas link's Swiss-based operator in a bid to stop the construction but lifted them in May.
