Gazprom owned special pipe-laying vessel Akademik Cherskiy that could be used by Russia to complete construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany has arrived in the Baltic Sea. The arrival of the Academic Cherskiy suggests that the pipeline project remains a priority for Moscow despite US sanctions on Russia. Footage taken by Reuters from the coast showed the Academic Cherskiy idle in a bay near the Kaliningrad region, which is separated from Russia’s mainland and is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania. It would take less than two days for the Academic Cherskiy to reach the Bornholm area from the Kaliningrad region if it started heading that way
The Academic Cherskiy, which Russian gas company Gazprom bought in 2016, was in the Russian Pacific port of Nakhodka in December when the United States imposed sanctions on Nord Stream 2.
The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was designed by Moscow to increase gas supplies via the Baltic Sea to Germany, Russia’s biggest energy customer. Russia’s energy ministry said in December that the pipeline was expected to be launched before the end of 2020. The United States says the pipeline would make the continent too reliant for energy on Russia, leaving it in Moscow’s political grip.