A branch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was not damaged in the September 2022 explosion and is still operational. However, German authorities have refused to restart the pipeline for political reasons, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference after the BRICS summit.
"There is still a branch of the gas pipeline running on the bottom of the Baltic Sea: Nord Stream 2. Just the German government presses the button and everything will be started. But they do not do so for political reasons," TASS quoted President Putin as saying.
According to the Russian president, the US - Germany's main partner - "has created conditions for all sectors of the German economy to shift out of the country".
"Because the government there creates more favorable conditions for businesses and the main energy source is three times cheaper than in Europe, even four times cheaper," the Russian leader explained.
Nord Stream 2 is a gas pipeline from Russia to Europe via the Baltic Sea. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has an entry point in the Ust-Luga region of the Leningrad Region, Russia and an output point in the Greifswald region, Germany. The length of this gas pipeline is more than 1,200 km.
The total capacity of the two branches of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was completed in September 2021 but has never been put into operation because Germany has not yet approved it.
In September 2022, the Nord Stream sabotage damaged two branches of the Nord Stream pipeline and one branch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. So far, investigations have not found the culprit behind the attack.
