Federation Council speaker confident decision to freeze Nord Stream 2 will be reconsidered

DUSHANBE. Feb 25 (Interfax) - The decision to halt the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be reconsidered, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said.

"I personally believe that this fever will pass, and these decisions will be reconsidered in the interests of European states first of all," Matviyenko told journalists on Friday during a visit to Tajikistan.

The sanctions on Nord Stream 2 are a temporary solution, Matviyenko said. "Why did private companies, including Gazprom , need to invest substantial funds just to bury them? They didn't, of course. This is, at the moment, the most cost-effective and logistically correct way of supplying piped gas to Europe," she said.

Talk about Europe being able to get by without Russian gas is "either a bluff or blackmail," Matviyenko said.

"They won't get by without Russian gas. Russia was and remains a reliable supplier. But they've restricted our maneuvers, and this won't lead to anything good, other than price hikes on gas if they're going to refuse Russian gas. This will make Europe's economy less competitive, something that the United States is interested in, by the way. And the population will get more expensive gas," she said.