Kuleba: Completed Nord Stream 2 will mean defeat for U.S. diplomacy

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says that the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project will mean a defeat for American diplomacy.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced this in an interview for Radio NV shared on SoundCloud, an UNIAN correspondent reported.

Read alsoBiden administration waives sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, its CEO

"We learned about the State Department's report, which has already become public, we learned about it in advance. We started working with Congress, started talking with the State Department. But I want to emphasize one more element that the United States' official position remains unchanged – they believe that Nord Stream 2 is a bad and unnecessary project, and they are trying, as they state, to stop this project simply in a 'less-conflict' way," Kuleba said.

"Perhaps I don't know something, and we all don't know some details, and American diplomacy will be able to interfere with the implementation of this project in a more flexible way. But if this project has nevertheless been implemented, then it will turn out to be a defeat for American diplomacy," Kuleba said.

According to the minister, if Nord Stream 2 is completed, it will be not only an economic challenge, but also a security one for Ukraine.

"The absence of the need to maintain and safeguard gas transportation infrastructure in Ukraine will be an additional incentive for aggressive actions by President Putin," Kuleba said, adding that Nord Stream 2 pursues only one goal – to bypass Ukraine as a transit country for natural gas [shipped] to Europe, namely "to deprive Ukraine of this lever of restraining the Russian Federation."

Previous developments

• The Joe Biden Administration has waived sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the corporate entity in charge of the construction of Russia's Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline into Germany, and its CEO Matthias Warnig, dubbed by media as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the Department of State on May 19, 2021, submitted a report to Congress pursuant to the Protecting Europe's Energy Security Act (PEESA), as amended, listing four vessels, five entities, and one individual involved in construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, including Nord Stream 2 AG and the company's CEO Matthias Warnig. Persons identified in the report are subject to sanctions pursuant to PEESA unless waived.
• As a result of such sanctions on the entities listed in the PEESA report, the four vessels listed in the report and nine additional vessels owned or controlled by the Federal State Budgetary Institution Marine Rescue Service that are involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline's construction, will also be subject to sanctions.