Moscow Hopes Denmark To Abandon 'Confrontational' Stance On Nord Stream 2 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Moscow hopes that Denmark will abandon its "confrontational" attitude toward the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which will bring Russian gas to Europe via the Baltic Sea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2019) Moscow hopes that Denmark will abandon its "confrontational" attitude toward the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which will bring Russian gas to Europe via the Baltic Sea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

The twin pipeline is set to pass through territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden. Denmark remains the only country that has not given its consent to the construction of the pipeline so far. After years of waiting, Nord Stream 2 AG filed a request for another permit from Denmark - this time for construction of the pipeline along the third route, which runs in the exclusive economic zone of the country south of Bornholm Island.

"We regret to note that Denmark has taken a politicized stand [on the project] and is dragging out the process of issuing a permit for laying the pipeline via its exclusive economic zone," Lavrov said in an interview with the German Rheinische Post newspaper, published on Thursday.

According to Lavrov, the dragging of the process runs counter to the principles of international maritime law, which permits countries to construct energy infrastructure in the sea.

"We hope that the Danish government formed as a result of the parliamentary elections will abandon the confrontational course and make right decisions," the minister noted.

He recalled that not a single country, including Denmark, had complained over the way the first line of the Nord Stream project � along which the route of the Nord Stream 2 was also originally planned to run, which however later faced objections from Copenhagen � was operating.

The Nord Stream project, meanwhile, is "supported by leading European energy companies, which could be hardly suspected of having any anti-European intentions," Lavrov added.

"In general, we are convinced that energy cooperation should not turn into an arena for settling political scores. We consider the attempts to force European consumers to buy more expensive liquefied natural gas from the United States to be absolutely non-market and anti-democratic. We expect that our German and other European partners, while making decisions on gas and other issues, will be guided by the interests of their peoples and not by instructions formulated overseas," Lavrov said.

He reiterated that Nord Stream 2 was a "purely commercial project meant to strengthen Europe's energy security and help reduce gas prices for European consumers."

"Against this backdrop, the persistent attempts of certain forces to 'put a spoke in our wheel' and interfere with the implementation of the project cause bewilderment. This is the way how we see the May 23 amendments to the EU Third Energy Package's Gas Directive that effectively violate the fundamental principle of investor protection from changes in the legislation of the host country," he added, noting the hastiness of the amendments' adoption under the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Russian energy giant Gazprom and five European partners. The pipeline is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2019. Russian energy giant Gazprom has said that the lack of license from Denmarks is not critical for the project implementation, noting that it still plans to launch the pipeline by the end of the year.