Germany has started to pour concrete on a Russian gas pipeline that risks dividing the EU and harming its energy security.
The construction began on Thursday by laying the foundations for a terminal that will receive Russian gas via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline when it goes online in 2020.
The pipeline is to run from Russia via the maritime zones of Finland, Sweden and Denmark. Finland recently granted a permit with the other two still pending.
Poland, the Baltic states and Nordic EU countries have warned that Nord Stream 2 will enable Russia to cut gas supplies to Western allies for strategic reasons.
Next steps for the Russian project will include the laying and welding of 200,000 steel pipes The pipes are already made and waiting in storage yards in Germany, Finland, and Sweden in a €9bn enterprise that includes five major EU firms. The enterprise also risks a transatlantic clash after the US threatened to impose fines on five EU firms - Engie, OMV, Shell, Uniper and Wintershall co-financing the pipeline.
Ukraine's former energy minister said Europe needed Nord Stream 2 due to the depletion of its North Sea gas fields. The minister used to work for the former Ukrainian regime and fled to Israel after 42kg of gold and $5m was found in his house in the 2014 revolution.
Nord Stream 2 also has friends in higher places such as former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder who went to work for Gazprom.
The CEOs of three of the EU firms backing the project - Austria's OMV and Germany's Uniper and Wintershall - joined in lobbying for the pipeline.
"The notion that Russia could use gas as a weapon - even if it wanted to - is simply a hoax" they said.
They pledged that Nord Stream 2 would not be used to cut off Ukraine but hinted that might suffer disruptions all the same.
"Germany and the EU are committed to ensuring Ukraine's place as a European gas partner. But placing all the proverbial eggs in the basket of Ukrainian transit is beyond foolhardy" the CEOs said.
