OREANDA-NEWS. Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin called the US decision not to impose sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which doubles gas supplies from Russia to Germany and the EU through the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine, as a blow in the stomach.

He wrote on Facebook: "The lifting of US sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG is like a blow in the gut. And it's not just that the likelihood of completion of the project is very high. Respected partners are not treated like that."

On the night of May 20, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced his refusal to impose sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG (the operator of the project) and against a German citizen, executive director of the company Matthias Warnig. As explained in a statement by Blinken on the State Department website, this decision is in the national interests of the United States.

Klimkin admitted: "In the event of the completion of Nord Stream 2, we lose our transit status, the availability of gas in the homes of EU citizens no longer depends on us." According to him, the gas transportation system of Ukraine (GTS), which has not been updated since the collapse of the USSR, will be used by the Europeans only to diversify supplies - "something like a reserve. Draw your own conclusions," Klimkin wrote. As a result, there will not be enough money even to maintain the country's gas networks. The head of the company "Operator GTS of Ukraine" Sergei Makogon said in an interview with S&P Global Platts about the upcoming mothballing of 60-70% of the capacity of the Ukrainian gas transmission system.