Russia launches first gas link to Western Europe

Russia yesterday inserted the first gas into a controversial undersea pipeline that for the first time will bypass nations such as Ukraine and deliver energy directly to Western Europe.
The 1,220-kilometre Nord Stream project was agreed in 2005 by then German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin -- at that time serving as president -- amid opposition from some other EU states.
Both men's attendance at the first gas ceremony outside his native home city of Saint Petersburg coincided with the second serious flare-up over energy prices between Moscow and Kiev since 2009.