Putin’s comments about Donald Tusk:

I have known Mr. Tusk for a long time. Both during the period of preparation for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and throughout the construction process itself.

We have a gas pipeline that runs from Polish territory to Europe. And another line had also been prepared, which also ran through Polish territory.

The builders had even installed the relevant structures there. But in the end, we decided to lay the second line in the Baltic Sea bed in order to minimize risks — primarily of an economic nature.

And even at that time, Poland was opposed to this. This was partly because, first of all, the particular economic advantages that a transit country benefits from would be lost.

And secondly, Poland would receive less revenue — which is exactly what happened — and would earn less from the transit of our hydrocarbons.