Poland, Ukraine and Baltic states fear the pipeline would increase Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and provide the Kremlin with billions of dollars of additional revenue to finance a further military build-up on European Union’s borders.
Speaking at a joint news conference with the Polish foreign minister in Warsaw, Tillerson said Nord Stream 2 project, which he called a tool to politicise energy, undermined Europe’s overall energy security and stability.
The U.S. administration is concerned that Nord Stream 2, which would concentrate 75 percent of Russian gas shipments to Europe, could help Moscow use energy as a weapon.
Poland, which spent four decades under Soviet domination after World War Two, still imports Russian gas to meet about two-thirds of its consumption. But it has invested in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Baltic coast to diversify supplies and plans to build a gas link to Norway.