The launch of the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline connecting Norwegian gas fields through Denmark with Poland allows the latter to diversify natural gas supplies and strengthen its energy security, and Ukraine to increase the reliability of gas supply, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko has said.

"At the same time, the launch of Baltic Pipe is an opportunity for Ukraine to improve the reliability of gas supply. This year we have increased the guaranteed capacity for gas imports from Poland and we continue to work on it," he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

The minister drew attention to the fact that from next year the gas pipeline, officially launched on September 27, will be able to operate at full capacity – 10 billion cubic meters per year. In addition, Polish and Norwegian companies have already signed a 10-year contract for the supply of 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Poland.

"So we see that Gazprom's monopoly is not a sentence. Europe, not in words, but in deeds, is making great strides in the fight against gas dependence on Russia," Haluschenko emphasized, pointing out that more than 15 years of work on the construction of the gas pipeline were years of "Russia's hard blackmailing, manipulation, bribery, sabotage and all the means that our northern neighbor knows how to use."

As reported, the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline connected the gas transmission systems of Poland and Denmark for gas supplies from Norway. The gas pipeline will be able to transport 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Poland and 3 billion cubic meters from Poland to Denmark. Its commissioning was expected on October 1.