OREANDA-NEWS. Certification of Nord Stream 2 must be completed by the end of the year to avoid new risks when the United States will consider the defense budget with sanctions against the pipeline, Senator Olga Kovitidi said.

The German Federal Grid Agency said on Tuesday that it had suspended Nord Stream 2 AG's certification as an independent operator of Nord Stream 2. The operator of this gas pipeline can be certified as independent only if the legal form is reorganized in accordance with German law: the German subsidiary of Nord Stream 2 AG will have to become the owner and operator of the German part of the gas pipeline and re-submit the full set of documents for certification, then the process will be resumed , pointed out the regulator.

"The certification of Nord Stream 2 cannot be delayed, given a number of risks, in particular, the end of the discussion in late December - early January of the US defense budget, which includes sanctions against the gas pipeline itself," Kovitidi told RIA Novosti. She believes that, perhaps, the German regulator had no political motives, but Russia's political opponents are not asleep.

"You shouldn't relax on the issue of Nord Stream 2 certification. The pressure on the German authorities will increase. It is necessary to understand that the collective West will try to apply all possible methods and means to get Germany to abandon the Nord Stream 2 project," says Kovitidi, who will use topics such as ecology, human rights and even the migration crisis.