Putin Hopes Biden Will Allow Completing the Nord Stream 2

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is in line with "the national interests of Europe and Germany," Putin said at a press conference. The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which will connect Russia and the FRG, is beneficial to Germany and Europe as a whole. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his confidence in this on Thursday, December 17, at a large press conference. "This corresponds to the national interests of Europe and Germany," he stressed, adding that this is a purely economic project. At the same time, the President of the Russian Federation expressed hope that the American administration, headed by President-elect Joseph Biden, will respect the interests of the European Union during the completion of the pipeline and return to the regime of fair competition in world markets. "I think we'll finish the job" The Russian leader emphasized that the construction of Nord Stream 2 is almost complete, with about 165 km remaining to be completed, "if we count in a single line version." "I think we will finish the job," he is sure. "Until now, representatives of the German economy (and we have a lot of friends there, a lot of friends, without any exaggeration), and the political leadership of the Federal Republic, which is trying not to interfere, since this is a purely economic project, but in any case, they take an open position to support this project, "Putin said. Resumption of work The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was resumed on December 11 after a break of one year. At the moment, the gas pipeline has been completed by more than 90 percent, the last section that remains to be laid is in the waters of Denmark. It was assumed that Nord Stream 2 will be commissioned by the end of 2019. However, in the summer of the same year, it became finally clear that Gazprom was out of schedule and would not be able to fulfill its targets, and in December 2019 the project was completely stopped. The Swiss company Allseas refused to lay pipes for Nord Stream 2 and withdrew its vessels from the Baltic Sea due to the threat of US sanctions. Washington has already introduced a new package of restrictions against the gas pipeline project into the country's defense budget.