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The Russian pipeline-laying vessel for Nord Stream 2
Photo: J.Koehler / imago images / Jens Koehler
The Russian gas company Gazprom wants to challenge a billion-dollar fine in Poland for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
The company rejects the opinion of the Polish antitrust and consumer protection authority UOKiK, said Gazprom.
The Russian company is said to pay a fine of a good 29 billion zlotys (6.4 billion euros) for unauthorized agreements.
The lawsuit was therefore submitted to the Court for Competition and Consumer Protection in Warsaw.
It is a division of the District Court that was set up specifically for anti-monopoly proceedings and the regulation of the energy sector.
Several companies are said to have agreed without waiting for the decision of the Polish authorities
The background to this is the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, on which several companies are said to have made agreements without waiting for the decisions of the Polish authorities.
In addition, five Gazprom project partners, including the German companies Uniper and Wintershall, were fined the equivalent of 52 million euros, as UOKiK announced in Warsaw at the beginning of October.
Poland is against the pipeline that is supposed to pump Russian gas directly through the Baltic Sea to Germany for the European market.
Poland and other countries criticize that the project strengthens the influence of the energy superpower Russia in Europe and, for example, further weakens the role of the most important gas transit country Ukraine.
Gazprom had stressed that it had not broken an antimonopoly law.
The construction of the pipeline has currently been stopped due to US sanctions.
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svv / dpa / Reuters
