ST. PETERSBURG, September 15. /TASS/. The obvious decision to launch Nord Stream 2 is met with resistance from European politicians, launching the project could solve Europe's gas problems, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom Management Committee Oleg Aksyutin said at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum.

"Launching Nord Stream 2 can solve the problem of balancing the European gas market, but we see that this obvious solution causes resistance from European politicians," he said.

"If Europe shows the will to maintain the status of an industrialized region, then the European leadership will have to recognize that natural gas is a ready-to-use, environmentally-friendly and cost-effective fuel, which can be used to restart the economy fairly quickly. The entire infrastructure for gas supplies is already in place," he added.

He added that Gazprom expects further deterioration of the situation in the European energy sector, as the EU has no alternative to Russian gas. "The situation on the European energy market will obviously only worsen. The European leadership is in no hurry to take constructive measures to overcome the crisis. At the same time, for Europe there is simply no full-fledged alternative to Russian pipeline gas," he said.

Aksyutin noted that no country in the world can provide resources comparable to those of Siberia and the Yamal Peninsula. "No one can arrange supplies using the pipeline system on the terms offered by Gazprom," he added.

According to him, the main beneficiary of the energy crisis in Europe is the United States, which was able to increase the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe, which is more expensive than pipeline gas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that the country is ready to start pumping gas through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline at any moment in order to solve Europe's gas problems, but the EU refuses.