German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier admitted that it was a mistake to cling to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project between Russia and Germany for so long.

“My holding on to Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake. We held on to bridges that Russia no longer believed in and that our partners warned us about”, - Steinmeier said in Berlin, according to German media.

For years the U.S. and other allies of Germany berated Berlin over the pipeline project, arguing it would be dangerous for Ukraine and send a wrong signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin after he annexed Crimea in 2014.

“My assessment was that Vladimir Putin would not accept the complete economic, political and moral ruin of his country for his imperial mania - there, like others, I was wrong”, - he said, adding that Germany had “failed with the approach of including Russia in a common security architecture”.