BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned against politicizing the Russian-led Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, saying that construction of it should be finished, despite US attempts to derail the energy project. “Our opinion is that Nord Stream-2 should be completed,” Merkel further said. She added that the project is of a purely economic nature and should not be linked to the situation with Russian anti-corruption activist leader Alexey Navalny, who is currently undergoing treatment in Germany after an alleged poisoning. The pipeline, designed to boost gas supplies to Germany and other European states by 55 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, is currently nearing completion in the Baltic Sea. Russia had to dispatch its own vessels to lay the final kilometres of the route, after the Swiss-Dutch company Allseas withdrew its ships over the threat of US sanctions. “We are also against the extraterritorial sanctions that the United States of America has imposed,” the German chancellor told reporters. TLTP
