German regulator may allow Nord Stream 2 launch by early 2022 - Lavrov

DUSHANBE. Sept 15 (Interfax) - It may take about four months to receive permission to launch the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"The work is done, and the process of obtaining necessary permissions from the German regulator is underway. It appears that, consistent with German laws, this process will take time, I think, about four months, up to the beginning of 2022," Lavrov said at a press conference after a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

He said he had no doubt that the attempts to "attack" the gas pipeline would continue.

Gazprom said last week that the marine part of the second segment of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was ready from the technical angle. Nevertheless, there are a number of bureaucratic barriers the company needs to deal with before putting the gas pipeline into operation.