Nord Stream 2 is no 'compensation' for WWII: Polish PM

WARSAW: Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Thursday objected to comments by Germany's president linking the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to German crimes during World War II.

"While I agree with the German president that post-war debts were not paid, NordStream2 is not a compensation," Morawiecki tweeted.

"It's a move behind Europe's back," he said, calling it an "anti-EU project that may soon serve Russia's aggressive policies".

"It increases EU dependency, undermines economy & safety. It's time to stop it," he wrote.

Speaking last weekend to the daily Rheinische Post about the pipeline, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said 20 million Soviet citizens were killed following Nazi Germany's invasion of the USSR in 1941.

The "terrible bloodshed" did not "justify any mistakes in our policies towards Russia today, but we must not lose sight of the bigger picture," he said.

The comments have already drawn criticism from Ukraine, which will lose transit fee revenues as a result of Nord Stream 2, a 10-billion-euro ($11-billion) gas pipeline running under the Baltic Sea.

The United States and several European countries have criticised the project, saying it will increase German and EU dependence on Russia.

The pipeline is almost complete, with most of the remaining pipe-laying work to be done in waters off Denmark.

Six million Poles, including three million Jews, perished between 1939 and 1945 during Nazi German occupation.

Although it has been more than 80 years since the war started, Poland says it is still owed war reparations by Germany.