* Project yet to be completed
* Halted since December due to U.S. sanctions
* Navalny incident prompts calls to call off project
* Project in interests of Russia and EU -Kremlin
(Recasts, adds Kremlin comment, detail)
By Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya Astakhova
MOSCOW, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Russia looked set to press on
with the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project
despite mounting Western opposition after data on Wednesday
showed a Russian ship had sailed for the project's supply base
in Germany.
Russia's plans for a second Nord Stream pipeline across the
Baltic Sea have faced opposition from the European Union and
others, especially since Moscow's annexation of Crimea from
Ukraine in 2014.
Last month's alleged poisoning of Alexei Navalny, a
prominent Kremlin critic, has added to calls from Western
politicians to block the project.
The Ivan Sidorenko departed St Petersburg for the German
port of Mukran, where pipes for Nord Stream 2 are stored, ship
tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon showed.
It will supply pipes to allow another Russian ship, the
Akademik Cherskiy, to finish laying the pipeline, the Kommersant
newspaper reported, without citing its sources.
The Akademik Cherskiy is currently moored in Mukran,
Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Nord Stream 2 project leader Gazprom did not reply
to a request for comment.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said
regarding Navalny that Russia was systematically seeking to
eliminate pro-democracy opponents.
It was wrong to think that Nord Stream 2 would help to
improve tense EU-Russia ties, she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
told reporters in response that the project should not be linked
to the Navalny case.
"This is a commercial project that is absolutely in line
with the interests of both Russia and European Union countries,
and primarily Germany," he said.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is chairman of
Nord Stream's shareholders committee and German firms and others
have teamed with Gazprom on the project.
Opponents to it include Poland as it will increase the EU's
reliance on Russia energy while undermining Ukraine as a transit
state for Russian gas exports to Europe.
Nord Stream 2 is designed to export 55 billion cubic metres
of Russian gas annually, or around a third of planned Gazprom's
overseas gas supplies for this year.
It was halted in December as pipe-laying company Swiss-Dutch
Allseas suspended operations due to U.S. sanctions targeting
companies providing vessels laying the pipes.
($1 = 0.8425 euros)
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya Astakhova; editing
by Katya Golubkova, David Evans, Jason Neely)
