MOSCOW, July 18. /TASS/. Attempts to make European consumers buy American liquefied natural gas (LNG) run counter to the principles of market economy and democracy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Germany’s Rheinische Post newspaper.

"We believe that it is wrong to take advantage of energy cooperation to settle political scores and consider attempts to make European consumers buy more expensive American LNG as a non-market and undemocratic tool," Lavrov said. "We expect that when partners in Germany and other European countries will make decisions on gas and other issues, they will focus on the interests of their people rather than on instructions from overseas," the Russian top diplomat added.

When speaking about Denmark’s position on the Nord Stream 2 project, Lavrov pointed out that Copenhagen had politicized the matter and was delaying the issuance of a permission for the construction of the gas pipeline in the country’s exclusive economic zone.

"We believe that the delay in considering the project operator’s applications runs counter to international maritime law that makes it possible to construct energy infrastructure facilities in maritime areas. A thing to remember is that no country, including Denmark, had any complaints concerning the Nord Stream pipeline, along which Nord Stream 2 was initially planned to be constructed," Lavrov noted.

"Leading European energy companies that can hardly be suspected of having any anti-European plans, support this project," he went on to say. "We hope that the new Danish government, formed after the parliamentary election, will abandon the policy of confrontation and make the right decisions," the Russian top diplomat said.

Commercial project

According to Lavrov, the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is going according to plan: the gas pipeline is 60% complete and over 80% of funds for the construction have been secured.