Germany's Merz urged to clarify position on Nord Stream pipeline

Germany's likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has been urged to take a clear position on the future of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, after it emerged that the controversial gas pipeline was the subject of talks between Moscow and Washington, reported dpa.

The Greens - who are part of the outgoing government in Berlin, but are set to go into opposition - said on Friday that Merz should quickly clarify his position.

"If [Russian Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov is now talking about the US and Russia negotiating the commissioning of Nord Stream 2, the future chancellor must make it unmistakably clear that this is not in the German and European interest," Green party co-leader Franziska Brantner told dpa.

Lavrov confirmed on Wednesday that there had been talks with the US about the disused Nord Stream pipelines linking Russia with Germany under the Baltic Sea.

Nord Stream 2 never went into operation and was halted by Berlin following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A mysterious explosion in September of the same year destroyed one of two completed pipelines.

Lavrov said it would be interesting to see "whether the Americans will use their influence on Europe and force it to stop rejecting Russian gas," according to a report by the state-run TASS news agency.

Lavrov's comments follow reports that bringing Nord Stream 2 back into operation could be part of a US-Russian agreement on ending the Ukraine war, possibly with the involvement of US investors.