BERLIN, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Gas contributes only a fraction
of Germany's energy consumption, and Russian gas only a fraction
of that, so it is wrong to say that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline
will make Germany dependent on Russian energy, Finance Minister
Olaf Scholz said.
Asked about the flagship Kremlin project, which has been
heavily criticised by the United States and some European
countries, Scholz on Monday restated the German government's
position that the pipeline was a private investment and should
not be the target of U.S. sanctions.
The poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, blamed by
most Western governments on Russian state actors, has led to
renewed calls for the nearly complete pipeline, built by
state-owned Gazprom, to be cancelled.
Critics of the pipeline say it increases Germany's reliance
on Russian energy and deprives transit countries Poland and
Ukraine of crucial leverage over the giant country to their
east.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Maria Sheahan)