The work underway in the waters of Germany’s exclusive economic zone was suspended following a lawsuit filed by the non-governmental organization Nature Conservation Union (NABU), which runs until the end of this month, the TASS news agency reported.

NABU reported Monday that it filed a lawsuit with the Hamburg Administrative Court against a construction permit for the pipeline issued in January this year.

Another environmental organization, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), delivered a similar complaint to it on April 13, despite earlier assurances from German regulator BSH that the laying of the pipelines poses no threat to marine life.

The Nord Stream 2 project involves the construction of two lines of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the end of April that there are ‘many signs of political speculation’ about Nord Stream, when it is, he warned, ‘a purely economic project that has nothing to do with the current political situation’.

The project doubles the capacity of the current pipeline, in operation since 2012, and was conceived to diversify Russian gas supply routes to Europe and, above all, to ensure European energy security.

mh/abo/mem/mml