The Dane joined the chorus of European politicians concerned about the construction of the second branch of the gas pipeline from Russia to Europe along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. In an interview with the German edition of Bild, he called the Nord Stream-2 project a "trap" of the Kremlin, to which Germany.

As Rasmussen put it figuratively, "not only gas but also Russian influence" flows through the pipes of the "Northern Stream".

The expansion of the gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea will lead to "serious consequences," warns the former NATO Secretary General. According to him, Putin needs this project in order to keep Europe's dependence on Russian gas and to deprive Ukraine of the gas transit tariff, which this money is needed to implement the "turn to Europe".

"If Germany refuses the project, it will not lose much in the economic plan, but will gain a lot in the political," Rasmussen believes.. At the same time, in the event of the cancellation of the construction of Nord Stream-2, German enterprises that have already invested their money in the project should not expect to compensate for investments in the "unnecessary gas pipeline".

"Nord Stream - 1" and other pipelines passing through Eastern Europe are sufficient to meet Germany's gas demand without problems. So all this is just a PR project of Putin, who wants to finance at the expense of German consumers, "says the Danish politician.

Reasoning further about President Putin's desire to restore the former greatness of Russia by strengthening influence in Central and Eastern Europe, Rasmussen calls energy resources the main instrument of such influence and calls on Europeans to refuse to support Russian energy projects.