Does the US want Ukraine to live on Russian money?
(Baonghean.vn) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the US is trying to ensure Ukraine's existence at Russia's expense, and affirmed that this is completely absurd, because this is the cost that Moscow pays for transporting gas through Ukraine to Europe.
 |
| Russian President Vladimir Putin at an interview in the special project "20 questions for Vladimir Putin". Photo: TASS |
"The US is pulling and controlling Ukraine from the outside, but they want Ukraine to survive at our expense," the Russian leader said in the special project "20 questions for Vladimir Putin" of TASS news agency.
According to President Putin, what the US wants to mention is the conditions under which Moscow pays for the transportation of gas through Europe, passing through Ukraine. With the reason of ensuring that this transit must continue, Washington has imposed sanctions on Russia's "Nord Stream 2" gas project.
President Putin said that this US argument is "strange", and emphasized that Russia has always been interested in continuing the transit of gas pipelines through Ukraine. "Maybe the volume is less, but we will do it" - President Putin said.
The Russian President noted that after Moscow and Kiev signed a new agreement on gas transit, sanctions were supposed to be lifted, but this did not happen. Explaining the reason, President Putin said that this was actually designed to provide a competitive advantage to US liquefied natural gas.
"Just for the sake of selfish interests to provide a favorable market for its goods, the US is putting consumers in Europe at a disadvantage. However, if the main energy source becomes 25-30% more expensive, this will completely eliminate the competitiveness of the German and European economies," President Putin analyzed.
The Russian leader recalled that Washington had previously opposed the Nord Stream 1 project, as well as previously hindered the development of economic relations between Russia and Europe.
Nevertheless, some important projects have been implemented. In particular, the gas pipeline agreement in the 1960s, the Soviet Union received pipelines from Germany in exchange for gas. Since then, Russia has learned how to build large-diameter gas pipelines to serve its needs.
Sanctions against Nord Stream 2
The Nord Stream 2 project includes two gas pipelines with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which will be laid from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The pipeline will transit countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and pass through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
In late 2019, US President Donald Trump approved the 2020 defense budget, which included a provision on sanctions against Nord Stream 2, including companies participating in the project.
Due to the threat of US sanctions, the Swiss company Allseas, tasked with laying the pipeline for the project, has suspended all operations and withdrawn vessels involved in the project.
Alexei Miller, head of the Russian Gazprom Energy Corporation, affirmed that Russia will complete Nord Stream 2 on its own, because there are no technological obstacles that require outside support.