© Nord Stream 2 / Axel Schmidt 29
While meeting with German business executives in Sochi, he said: "The pipe laying of the Nord Stream 2 is close to completion now; its commissioning will make it possible to double Russian gas supplies over the Baltic route."
He added: "This will be an extra contribution to satisfying the demand in Germany and other countries." The Russian president added that Nord Stream 2 "is a purely commercial project" and the government is not participating in it.
"I reiterated many times to avoid any misinterpretations and would like to say once again, it does not mean, at all, that Russia intends to stop transit through the territory of Ukraine," Putin said, expressing hopes that the Russian and Ukrainian energy firms will find a mutually acceptable solution regarding natural gas transit to European countries.
The Nord Stream 2 project, which was designed to deliver Russian natural gas to Germany and other European customers, is scheduled to begin operating in the middle of next year. The pipeline, which runs from the Russian Baltic coast to Germany, will deliver 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Europe.
With more than 50 percent of Russian gas supplies to the EU traditionally flowing through Ukraine, Nord Stream 2 (which is the extension of the Nord Stream gas pipeline) has been built as a supplementary route to guarantee stable supplies to the EU. The pipeline cannot cover all of Europe's gas needs.
According to Putin, Germany is one of Russia's major economic partners and Moscow seeks to further strengthen mutual ties.
"We greatly appreciate the pragmatism of German business, the willingness to work together, and strive to further develop bilateral relations in order to meet the long-term interests of both countries."
He pointed out that German investments in the Russian economy exceeded $20 billion while Russia's counter-investment stands at $10 billion.
Reader Comments
The ICC should be held accountable for not following up on the outright war crimes that were perpetrated on thousands of civilians in Donbass-- women and children and the aged ...
A quote from an article written by Christopher Black that was banned from Oogle search:
[Link]
"Article 6 of the Rome Statute that created the ICC states the actions of the NATO-Kiev axis constitute acts of genocide.It states,“For the purpose of this Statute, “genocide” means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:(a) Killing members of the group;(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;”
Pure unadulterated ethnic cleansing!
Does anyone in the World even know what Christmas will be like for these people -- when its barely over a year that their matchless leader, Alexander Zakharchenko was so brutally assassinated??