The construction of all branches of the Nord Stream gas pipeline has been completed; therefore, US presidential candidate Donald Trump's statement about destroying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline during the construction phase is still unclear - TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying at a press conference on November 1.
"The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is completed. In fact, a branch of Nord Stream 2 is still intact (after the explosions in September 2022) and is ready to be put into operation at any time, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said," the Kremlin spokesman said.
"Therefore, it is difficult to predict Donald Trump's intentions," Peskov added, suggesting that we should contact "this candidate's election campaign" for clarification.
Previously, in an interview with Tucker Carlson on October 31, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump strongly denied the Democratic Party's claim that he had ties to Russia, reaffirming that he was the one who blocked the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
When talking to activist Carlson, the former US president called those who considered him a "friend of Russia" or a "Russian message" a disease.
"As you know, I have terminated the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. They like to say that I am a friend of Russia, that I work for Russia, that I am a Russian spy. These people are sick. The biggest job Russia has ever had is Nord Stream 2. This is the world's largest gas pipeline, running from Russia to Germany and across Europe. I terminated it. No one can destroy it, but I, I have stopped it. Everything is half-built," Donald Trump said in a live interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson in Glendale,Arizona.
The construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline began in 2018 but was suspended for a year and a half later.
At the end of 2019, the Trump administration announced sanctions against companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream pipelines. However, with the help of Russian ships, both branches of the pipeline were completed in December 2021.
However, due to late certification from Germany, Nord Stream 2 has never been put into operation.
In February 2022, after Russia recognized the sovereignty of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he had ordered a stop of Nord Stream 2 certification. As a result, the pipeline was never put into operation.
