The technical possibility of restoring the "Nord Stream" gas pipelines exists and this is what reasonable forces in Europe want, Kirill Dmitriev, special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, told reporters on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg today, TASS reports.
''The reasonable forces in Europe, in Germany, understand that ''Nord Stream''' must be restored. And we are already hearing echoes of such ideas and proposals, he noted.
''Technically, this is certainly possible,'' said Dmitriev, answering a question from TASS whether gas supplies along this route could be restored in the foreseeable future.
According to him, the position of the ''Alternative for Germany'' (AfD) party, which ''openly speaks about this'', is an important signal.
''They have launched an investigation into why ''Nord Stream'' was blown up. The Germans understand that because they are not receiving Russian energy, which is more predictable and cheaper, energy prices in Germany have risen by 30-40%. This leads to the industrialization of Germany, Europe has lost more than $ 3 trillion due to this refusal of Russian energy, Dmitriev emphasizes.
Earlier, Markus Frohnmeier, deputy head and foreign policy expert of the AfD faction in the Bundestag, told TASS that Germany remains interested in resuming the operation of ''Nord Stream'' after the end of the conflict in Ukraine.
On September 26, 2022, explosions damaged the ''Nord Stream 1'' gas pipelines and ''Nord Stream 2'', which were laid along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to transport Russian gas to Europe.
The total design capacity of the gas pipelines is 110 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
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