Merkel: EU, NATO not Russia’s enemies, Germany won’t be dependent on Moscow for energy

The European Union and NATO are not Russia’s enemies, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a meeting with students of a state university in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Friday. “Russia is an important country and Germany wants to have good relations with Russia,” TASS quoted her as saying. “Europe and Russia have been effectively cooperating and learning from each other, and I would like to point out that the EU and NATO are not Russia’s enemies.” She also said that a planned sub-sea pipeline that will bring gas directly from Russia under the Baltic Sea will not make Germany dependent on Russia for energy, Reuters reported. The chancellor reaffirmed that Germany wanted to make sure that Russia would continue to deliver some gas via Ukraine even after the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was finished.