OREANDA-NEWS. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said that London welcomes the decision of the German authorities to suspend the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, TASS reports.

“This is what we have talked about in (private) conversations and publicly: dependence on Russian hydrocarbons to such an extent is not good for Europe,” a spokesman for the head of the British government said at a briefing.

Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz instructed the country's Ministry of Economy to stop the process of certification of the Russian Nord Stream 2 project. Olaf Scholz said he asked the Federal Ministry of Economics to withdraw the report on energy security from the Federal Grid Agency. He assured that this step does not allow Nord Stream 2 to receive a certificate and be launched.

Later, Spiegel announced the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 certification process.

The head of the faction of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the Bundestag, Rolf Mützenich, said that the sanctions against Russia will affect the entire world economy and the international system in the long term.