REUTERS
The construction of Nord Stream 2 is to start in 2018 and end by late 2019.
Ukrainian Minister of Interior Affairs Arsen Avakov has called on the United States to introduce sanctions against possible contractors of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
"Arsen Avakov has urged the U.S. to sanction the companies that are potential contractors for the construction of the second stage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. This issue is now under consideration by the U.S. government," Member of Parliament and member of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's board Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook late on Tuesday, April 17.
Read alsoGermany seeks to strengthen position in Europe due to Nord Stream 2 – diplomat
Avakov is now in the United States, where he met with Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell to discuss this issue among other things.
"Now, after Arsen Avakov's meeting with the heads of the U.S. State Department, the chances of stopping the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline have considerably increased. And this is good!" Gerashchenko said.
Avakov stresses that if Russia achieves its goal and lets the transit of all its gas bypass Ukraine, this will make Europe more dependent on Russian gas and make Russia's full-scale evasion of Ukraine more real," Gerashchenko said.
UNIAN memo. Nord Stream 2 AG (where Russia's Gazprom owns 51% of shares) was established for the planning, construction and operation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
The Nord Stream 2 project involves the construction of two strings of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year from the Russian coast via the Baltic Sea to Germany. The second line will be built in addition to the existing Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
The construction of Nord Stream 2 is to start in 2018 and end by late 2019.
Ukraine is against this construction.