Poland's Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz hopes diplomatic pressure from the U.S. will encourage European companies to withdraw from the Nord Stream 2 project, according to Polish news portal Radio Poland on Tuesday.
Radio Poland reported that at the meeting between the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Czaputowicz in Washington on Monday, the Nord Stream 2 project was discussed.
The pipeline project aims to link Russia and Germany, but Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States, through which Russia generally exports its natural gas, object to the project.
The Polish official said Poland and the U.S. hold similar views on the Nord Stream 2, and have criticized it.
The U.S. opposes the project because it fears that Europe’s reliance on Russia for gas will increase. It has also put forth security issues as justification for stopping it.
U.S. President Donald Trump pressured Germany to pull out of the controversial project, according to the Wall Street Journal on May 17.
Trump told Chancellor Angela Merkel last month that Berlin should drop support for the pipeline linking Russia and Germany if it wants to avoid a trans-Atlantic trade war.
As an alternative, Trump reportedly said the U.S. would start talks for a new trade deal with the European Union.
In early April, after meeting with the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia at the White House, Trump criticized the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Despite Trump's speech on the project on May 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Merkel confirmed that Russia would continue gas transit through Ukraine after the construction of the Nord Stream 2, following Merkel's pressure on Russia to clarify Ukraine's transit role.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr