Russia clearly sees attempts to sabotage its infrastructure projects, including the Nord Stream-2 project that would boost the amount of gas shipped directly from Russia to Germany, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday.
"Lately, we have frequently encountered artificial limits in infrastructure development," Novak told an international energy forum. "We see bare-faced sabotage of economically viable and attractive infrastructure projects, such as the Nord Stream-2, for example," he said.
He did not say who was sabotaging the project.
In private, EU officials say they hope direct talks with Moscow would delay the project past 2019, depriving Russian state gas exporter Gazprom of leverage in talks over transit fees for Ukraine, the current route for most gas supplies to Europe.