page_title: Nord Stream
section_title: Political aspects
hierarchical_section_title: Nord Stream / Controversies of Nord Stream 2 / Political aspects
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Совместная пресс-конференция Президента России Владимира Путина с Федеральным канцлером Германии Ангелой Меркель
context_page_description: Nord Stream is a system of offshore natural gas pipelines from Russia to Germany. It includes two lines running from Vyborg to Greifswald forming original Nord Stream, and two lines running from Ust-Luga to Greifswald termed Nord Stream 2. Nord Stream is owned and operated by Nord Stream AG, whose majority shareholder is the Russian state company Gazprom, and Nord Stream 2 is owned and will be operated by Nord Stream 2 AG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gazprom. The first line of Nord Stream was laid by May 2011 and was inaugurated on 8 November 2011. The second line of Nord Stream was laid in 2011–2012 and was inaugurated on 8 October 2012. At 1,222 km in length, Nord Stream is the longest sub-sea pipeline in the world, surpassing the Langeled pipeline. Laying Nord Stream 2 was carried out in 2018–2019, and before the imposition of U.S. sanctions which halted the work, it was expected to become operational in mid-2020. Nord Stream has a total annual capacity of 55 billion m³ of gas, and the addition of Nord Stream 2 is expected to double the capacity to a total of 110 billion m³.
context_section_description: In January 2018, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that the U.S. and Poland oppose the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. They see it as undermining Europe's overall energy security and stability. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was also opposed by former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, U.S. President Donald Trump, the European Council President Donald Tusk and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. The president of the European Council Donald Tusk has said that Nord Stream 2 is not in the EU's interests.  Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have questioned the different treatment of Nord Stream 2 and South Stream projects.  Some claim that the project violates the long-term declared strategy of the EU to diversify its gas supplies.  A letter, signed by the leaders of nine EU countries, was sent to the EC in March 2016, warning that the Nord Stream 2 project contradicts the European energy policy requirements that suppliers to the EU should not control the energy transmission assets, and that access to the energy infrastructure must be secured for non-consortium companies. A letter by American lawmakers John McCain and Marco Rubio to the EU also criticized the project in July 2016. Isabelle Kocher, chief executive officer of Engie, criticised American sanctions targeting the projects, and said they were an attempt to promote American gas in Europe.
  In June 2017, Germany and Austria criticized the United States Senate over new sanctions against Russia that target the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, stating that the United States was threatening Europe's energy supplies. In a joint statement Austria's Chancellor Christian Kern and Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that "Europe's energy supply is a matter for Europe, and not for the United States of America." They also said: "To threaten companies from Germany, Austria and other European states with penalties on the U.S. market if they participate in natural gas projects such as Nord Stream 2 with Russia or finance them introduces a completely new and very negative quality into European-American relations."
caption: German Chancellor Angela Merkel with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, 18 May 2018
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