Ukraine’s President Pyotr Poroshenko said that he would not stop fighting against the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, ONA reports citing ITAR-TASS.
"We have not stopped our struggle to stop the construction by inviting German companies to participate in the management of the Ukrainian gas transportation system," he said at a briefing with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
"Our strategic partnership assumes that we can discuss any issues, and so far Germany’s position is to protect Ukraine and ensure its security. But we see different mechanisms for protecting this security," he noted.
According to him, Germany sees this mechanism in preserving a certain amount of gas transit through the Ukrainian gas transport system, while Kiev sees it stopping the construction of the Nord Stream 2.
"Because we see in it a political threat to Ukraine," Poroshenko explained and added that Ukraine is continuing negotiations with Germany on this issue.
In turn, Angela Merkel expressed hope that the partnership between Germany and Ukraine would withstand the differences on the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project.
"We have common goals regarding the fact that Ukraine should remain a gas transit country," the Chancellor said.
She stressed that Berlin supports trilateral gas negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the EU.
"I always clearly told the Russian President that Nord Stream 2, for me, in spite of everything, means that Ukraine will remain a transit country," said the head of the German government.
"Our strategic partnership [with Ukraine] will tolerate the fact that we disagree on one issue. Despite this, we have a large number of similar views," Merkel said.
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