Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov commented on Washington's actions regarding the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. According to the diplomat, in this way the United States wants to make Russia pay for an independent foreign policy, he said on the air of the Russia 24 TV channel. The words of the ambassador are quoted by RIA Novosti.
“Today Western Europeans are being forced to buy expensive liquefied natural gas and refuse cheap Russian hydrocarbons. Of course, the Europeans decide in the end. (…) The point is to make us pay for our independent, confident foreign policy, ”Antonov said. He also added that Washington is trying to speculate on the situation with blogger Alexei Navalny.
Earlier, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder urged not to link the construction of the pipeline and Navalny's hospitalization. He stressed that if the project is curtailed, then Germany will lose 10 billion euros of investment.
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany was supposed to be completed at the end of 2019, but due to US sanctions, the deadline was postponed by at least a year. In the summer of 2020, the United States wanted to increase pressure on the project and extend sanctions to companies that insure pipelayers.
Alexei Navalny became ill on August 20 during a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, his plane landed in Omsk. There the oppositionist fell into a coma. A few days later, from the Omsk hospital, he was transferred to the Berlin clinic “Charite”. European toxicologists said they found a poisonous substance from the “Novichok” group in the patient's analyzes and on a bottle of water that his relatives took from his hotel room in Tomsk.
