Russia's Lavrov says potential bankruptcy or sale of Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline operator would be theft

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the potential bankruptcy or sale of the operator of the completed but never launched Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would amount to "theft".

Lavrov, speaking at a news conference in Moscow, was commenting on the matter after a court in Switzerland extended the deadline for Nord Stream 2 AG, a unit of Russia's Gazprom, to restructure its debts to May 9 from Jan. 10.

The court also said that Swiss-registered Nord Stream 2 AG had to pay off its debts to small-scale creditors in full within 60 days.

The Wall Street Journal reported in November that a U.S. financier wanted to buy Nord Stream 2.

Nord Stream 2 completed the $11 billion project in 2021 to pump gas from Russia to Germany. But Germany halted the plan as relations with Moscow broke down ahead of Russia's war in Ukraine, while the United States imposed sanctions.

In September 2022, one of the two lines of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was damaged by mysterious blasts, along with both lines of Nord Stream 1.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva; Editing by Andrew Osborn)