The operator of Nord Stream 2 announced the completion of the laying of the last pipe of the gas pipeline

Operator Nord Stream 2 AG announced the laying of the last pipe of the second string of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to the bottom of the Baltic Sea, it says in the company message.

The specialists of the pipe-laying barge Fortuna have welded the last pipe of the second string and are preparing to lower it to the bottom. The new pipe received the number 200 858.

At the next stage, it is planned to dock the sections of the gas pipeline in Germany and Denmark. Nord Stream 2 plans to launch it by the end of 2021.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced launch of Nord Stream 2 in a few days. The minister recalled that the administration of US President Joe Biden did not change its position and continues to oppose the pipeline, realizing that “to stop it [запуск] impossible”.

Earlier, on September 2, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov spokethat the project will be launched in the very near future. Bloomberg citing German federal authorities wrotethat the gas pipeline is planned to be completed by September 12. In July, Nord Stream 2 AG assessed the readiness of Nord Stream at 99%.

Nord Stream 2 runs along the bottom of the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. The length of each line is 1.2 thousand km. A year through him will be deliver 55 billion cubic meters m of gas. The US last year imposed sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which forced the Swiss contractor to abandon pipe-laying.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel statedthat Berlin would be in favor of imposing sanctions on Moscow if the Russian authorities used the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as a weapon. According to her, the agreement on the supply of Russian gas through Ukraine, which expires in three years, should be extended.