MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd December, 2018) The US pressure on the countries that agreed to participate in Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project has nothing to do with a special liking for Ukraine because Washington merely pursues its own economic interests, former German Chancellor Gerhard Shroeder told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
On December 15, the US State Department's deputy spokesman, Robert Palladino, said in a statement that the United States called on Berlin to "heed the concerns of the many neighbors" as the construction of the pipeline would allegedly threaten their security. Prior to that, Washington repeatedly urged all countries concerned to withdraw from the Nord Stream 2 project.
"They [the United States] are doing this [exercising pressure] not out of love for Ukraine, but because they want to be the ones to deliver gas to Germany � their liquefied natural gas, which is worse in quality but more expensive than the one supplied via the pipeline," Shroeder said in an interview released on Sunday.
The former chancellor stressed that Berlin's trade policies should be more independent from Washington, which should refrain from telling German authorities who they can trade with.
"Iran, China, Russia � if it goes on like this, we will soon be prevented from having economic relations with everyone. This is unacceptable for an export-dependent country like Germany. We should point this out to the United States, with all due respect," Shroeder added.
Under the gas project, Nord Stream 2 AG consortium will build two pipelines through the Baltic Sea, which will deliver around 55 billion cubic meters (almost 2 trillion cubic feet) of Russian gas directly to Germany and, subsequently, to other European countries. The pipelines are expected to be put into operation by the end of 2019.
The project has been facing fierce opposition on the part of a number of countries, notably, Ukraine, which is afraid of losing its revenues from the transit of Russian gas to Europe.
Russia has repeatedly said that the project was fully commercial, stressing that the pipeline construction will not put an end to the transit of Russian gas to the European Union through Ukraine.
