MOSCOW, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Alexey Miller, the head of Russian energy giant Gazprom, expressed confidence on Wednesday that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project will be implemented despite threats from the United States.
On Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sundland, said that Washington has "many tools" to slow down the construction of the project, which he said makes Europe and the United States vulnerable.
"Well, you see everything yourself -- 200 km have already been built. And the rest will be completed," Miller replied to the Kommersant newspaper, when asked to comment on Sundland's claims.
U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized the project, claiming it would increase Europe's dependence on Russia.
Moscow, however, retorted that Trump's criticism was aimed at promoting U.S. sales of liquefied natural gas to Europe.
Nord Stream 2, scheduled to be put into operation by the end of 2019, will expand the existing Nord Stream main gas pipeline by linking Russia and Germany via the Baltic seabed, bypassing Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and other Eastern European and Baltic countries.
The project includes two parallel lines with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
