The fate of the Northern Stream-2, as well as the transit of Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, is resolved. On Friday, May 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will strike at the hands, and on this long-term energy dispute will be over. So writes the German Die Welt on the eve of the Russian-German talks in Sochi. Actually, Berlin is now in a difficult situation. On the one hand, he needs "Nord Stream-2", since gas supplies through this pipe will be cheaper and more reliable than transit through Ukraine. But on the other, from the protection of Kiev, Berlin can not refuse, so as not to fall in the eyes of other world players. Accordingly, he politically needed to help Ukraine maintain the existing GTS. The balance of interests was achieved by Peter Altmayer, the German Minister of the Economy,. In negotiations with and. Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, he received the principal agreement of the Russian side that Moscow will take into account the "reasonable interests" of Kiev, while "North Stream-2" will be built and launched without fail and the main volume of Russian gas will flow to Western Europe.

It is expected that the final decision on this issue will be agreed by Putin and Merkel already this Friday. It is clear that Kiev can not arrange such an outcome - the launch of a new pipeline in any way will deprive it of a significant part of its transit revenues. But the opinion of the Kiev authorities does not bother anyone. Berlin fulfilled its political obligations and secured from Moscow guarantees that some amount of gas would be transported through the territory of Nezalezhnaya. And then excuse me - nothing personal, just business.