Nord Stream 2 should fully meet terms of EU's Third Energy Package - Finnish foreign minister

KYIV - Finland's Foreign Minister Timo Soini said that the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project should meet the terms of the Third Energy Package of the European Union, and stressed the need to comply with the decisions of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

"Finland fully supports international laws and the policy of full compliance with international rules and laws. This is exactly why the Stockholm arbitration decisions must be complied with. We are following the situation ... We think that this [Nord Stream 2] project should be scrutinized very closely, in particular to ensure it fully complies with the terms of the EU Third Energy Package," Soini told a joint press conference with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Kyiv on Monday.

For his part, Klimkin said that the pipeline will be crossing Finland's economic zone, not territorial waters.

"We understand that our Finnish friends have limited influence because this project passes not through the territorial waters but through the economic zone of Finland... For us, it is fundamentally important to have the support in that this project should fall entirely under Europe's energy laws. Making exceptions allowing Gazprom to manipulate this project is out of the question," the Ukrainian minister said.