Russian statement: “Nord Stream 2” is not a priority for discussion

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Photo: TASS

Responding to RT's question about whether the Nord Stream 2 project will be discussed between Presidents Putin and Trump, Dmitry Peskov said: "The issues to be discussed are not consistent with the draft that was planned from AZ, but entirely depend on the decisions of the two leaders. It is still unclear what exact issues will be put on the table, but the issue of building a gas pipeline will not be discussed first."

But Mr. Peskov, Moscow is ready to "consider all important issues in bilateral relations and on the international arena.".

The Kremlin spokesman also said that President Donald Trump's criticism of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project was unfair competition.

"Russia is really concerned about the above allegations. Remember, "Nord Stream 2" is an international project, not just Russia or Germany. This is simply a commercial project to help meet the supply and demand for gas products, with the participation of many shareholders from many countries" - Mr. Peskov said. He also commented that if the interests of these shareholders are threatened, or there are barriers surrounding the implementation of the next project, it will complicate the relationship.

Earlier, Russian Presidential Assistant Yuri Ushakov said that in Helsinki the two leaders would discuss a number of economic issues, including the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. However, before going to Finland to meet his Russian counterpart, at the NATO summit in Brussels (Belgium), President Trump bluntly criticized Germany for spending money to buy gas from Russia and being dominated and controlled by Russia.

Expressing his hope for an improvement in Russia-US bilateral relations, Kremlin spokesman Peskov hoped that the meeting would be the first step towards normalizing relations between the two countries and rebuilding trust at an acceptable level.

The first official Russia-US summit since President Donald Trump took office was the biggest progress Moscow and Washington have made in the past year, even though bilateral relations have hit rock bottom since the Cold War.

However, experts warn against being overly optimistic about the results of the meeting or hoping to improve Russia-US relations in the short term because the "systemic" conflicts that have taken root between the two sides are difficult to resolve in just a short meeting.

In addition, before the conference, many storms continued to hinder the progress of the meeting. Specifically, most recently, the US officially charged 12 Russian citizens with cyberattacks on the 2016 US presidential election.