Schroeder: Nord Stream a European project

KALININGRAD, Russia, May 20 (UPI) -- The Nord Stream gas pipeline from Russia to Germany should be seen as part of European efforts to diversify the energy sector, a former German chancellor said.

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder spoke during a visit to the Russian coastal region of Kaliningrad on the benefits of the Nord Stream pipeline through the Black Sea.

Nord Stream would travel along a dual route along the floor of the Gulf of Finland and Black Sea to Germany.

Schroeder said European energy diversification efforts do not lie in a move away from Russian gas supplies, but through minimizing the reliance on Ukraine as a transit nation.

Europe gets about 25 percent of its gas from Russia, though roughly 80 percent of that travels through Ukraine. Russian energy giant Gazprom briefly shut off the gas to Ukraine in January over contract disputes, leaving Europe in the cold for weeks.

Schroeder, who sits on the Nord Stream pipeline consortium and on the board of the Anglo-Russian oil venture TNK-BP, said that dispute highlights the need to move toward transit diversity, not supply diversity, Voice of Russia reports.

He added energy diversification strategies should be based on financial motivation, not political factors.

His comments were echoed by Russian officials who expressed similar sentiments to European officials at a bilateral summit in Berlin.