The construction of a new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea by Russia’s Gazprom will cause considerable damage to Ukraine, which may amount to 3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch said.
She said at the Oil & Gas conference in Kyiv on Oct. 24, the Nord Stream will reduce the transportation of gas through Ukraine, which may lead to the country losing up to 3 percent of its GDP.
Russia’s Gazprom and its partners plan to launch the Nord Stream 2 project worth almost 10 billion euro in April 2018. A 1,200-kilometer-long gas pipeline will run across the Baltic Sea and will link Russia and Germany, bypassing Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States. Its capacity is expected to be double the one of Nord Stream 1. The construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019.
Kyiv is categorically against this construction, calling it politically motivated, and proposing the EU create a consortium involving European companies to manage the existing more efficient transportation route through Ukraine.
Some EU countries, in particular, Poland and Lithuania, also expressed their disagreement with the Nord Stream 2 project.
