The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is ready, but Europe does not need reality, it prefers to link economics with politics, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, RIA Novosti reported.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday that he had instructed the country's Economy Ministry to take the necessary administrative step to cancel the Nord Stream 2 certification now. At issue is the withdrawal of the document from the ministry on the basis of which the Federal Network Agency was certifying the pipeline operator.

"The project itself is ready, everything is ready, but there has been no launch for several months. To date, they have announced that they are withdrawing the approval procedure. They don’t need reality…they only want one thing: directly link politics and the energy sector," Zakharova told Dozhd TV.