By the end of this month, pipe will be laid on the Baltic seabed for Nord Stream 2

By the end of this month, pipe will be laid on the Baltic seabed for Nord Stream 2, a gas line spokesman tells the Financial Times. When completed in two years, the pipeline is to double Russia’s gas delivery capacity to Germany, rendering the gas pipeline across Ukraine redundant. Despite objections from the US and several EU nations, the spokesman said “preparatory” work was done in August: building a pipeline connection from the landfall site in Lubmin, northeast Germany, and digging an underwater trench to encase the pipeline as it runs through shallow waters near Lubmin.