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Head of Ukrainian Naftogaz Yuri Vitrenko spoke about how Kiev intends to fight the implementation of the Nord Stream-2 project. According to him, the battle is lost, but “the war is not lost.”
He acknowledged that Ukraine has no influence on the completion of the pipeline. However, it is still possible to manufacture it so that it is not certified. As he said in an interview with Radio Liberty (the publication includes the Russian Ministry of Justice in the register of organizations acting as foreign agents), Ukraine will try to prove that the pipeline operator is controlled by Russian Gazprom, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Vitrenko clarified that European legislation prohibits “one person or group of persons to control the production and transmission of gas”. If Nord Stream 2 is separated from Gazprom, the German regulator and the European Commission are obliged to ensure third party access to all gas pipelines leading from Russia to Europe. Vitrenko also admitted that this scenario is phantasmagoric.
Vitrenko previously said that Kiev will insist on the need for sanctions against the operator of the Nord Stream-2 project. According to him, the Ukrainian side carefully read the joint statement of the American administration and the German government. It turned out that the problems and challenges facing Ukraine remained unanswered.
He claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly uses gas as a geopolitical weapon. In this regard, US sanctions should be applied to Nord Stream AG and other key players in the project, Vitrenko is confident.