Nord Stream 2 to deprive Ukraine of gas transit despite guarantees from Russia - Klimkin

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said this to journalists on Wednesday, August 22, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"If this [Nord Stream 2] is a political project, it's one thing. If this is an economic project, then it's another thing. Everyone understands that this is pure politics. And if this project is once theoretically built, and I directly said it to the European Commission and Germany, then Russia will definitely stop supplies through the Ukrainian route, whatever the guarantees," Klimkin said.

The minister added that Russia would manage to find various reasons for this - from some kind of manipulations, such as gas wars, to terrorist attacks.

"Therefore, there is no trust here, and we will consistently fight this," Klimkin said.

In this context, he noted that the first round of talks on the future of Ukrainian transit after 2019 between the European Commission and the Russian side was very complicated.

"We say that everything should be very simple. European rules should be applied to our GTS and to Ukraine in general. We want it, and we promote it," he said.

According to him, it is unclear why "even the theoretical Nord Stream 2" should work contrary to European energy rules.

op