Putin says economy behind motives of Polish PM Tusk's words about Nord Stream

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday he understands the motives of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's position on Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as Warsaw has lost transit revenue because of this pipeline. "As you know, I have known Mr. Tusk for a long time, during the preparations for the construction of Nord Stream 2 and when the construction was already in the process," Putin told Russia’s Vesti journalist Pavel Zarubin. "Back then, Mr. Tusk also served at the prime minister and I understand the motives behind the position of the current Polish government. The motives are very simple - economic expediency," the Russian president said. Earlier, Tusk stated that Germany should not prosecute those responsible for sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines. He noted the blame should fall on those who built the pipeline, not those who sabotaged it. The Russian president noted that initially the Nord Stream-2 route was planned to stretch across Poland. "We have one gas supply line running through Poland, Yamal-Europe, and a second line has been prepared, also across Poland. Even the construction workers have already installed the required facilities there," according to Putin "But in the end, we decided to run a second line along the bottom of the Baltic Sea in order to minimize the risks," Putin said, stressing that because of this, Warsaw began to receive less revenue from the transit of Russian hydrocarbons.