KYIV

State-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz, where government-imposed management changes last month drew stern U.S. criticism, has appointed a former parliamentarian to head its international affairs team and she immediately pledged to halt Russia’s nearly completed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany.

Svitlana Zalishchuk, a former journalist, sat in parliament for the party linked to former President Petro Poroshenko and headed the sub-committee on Euro-Atlantic Cooperation and European Integration.

“Over the past several years, the Naftogaz team has managed to hold back the completion of Nord Stream 2 significantly. Yet we are far from being victorious, and Ukraine still needs to win its battle against the Russian geopolitical pipeline,” Zalishchuk said on the Naftogaz website.

“We are currently working on several scenarios to stop Nord Stream 2. We need to mobilise all branches of power in Ukraine and ensure clear and consistent coordination with our international partners who realise the threat posed by the Russian pipeline to all Europe.:

Nord Stream 2 is 95 percent complete taking Russian gas to Europe through the Baltic. U.S. President Joe Biden dropped the project from his list of sanctions imposed on Russia in connection with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, saying the move had been take in the U.S. national interest, ostensibly to bolster ties with Germany.

Ukraine has vehemently opposed the project, saying the rerouting of Russian gas through the Baltic instead of Soviet-era pipelines through Ukrainian territory will make Moscow feel even freer to engage in aggressive actions against Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month criticised Washington’s decision, saying it would ultimately be seen as a “defeat” for Biden’s administration.

Zelensky’s government dismissed Naftogaz’s CEO last month by cabinet order, bypassing the company’s supervisory board, a day after the company announced a 2020 loss equivalent to $684 million.

The United States denounced the move as blatant interference in Naftogaz’s management and a mockery of Kyiv’s pledges to uphold normal corporate governance as part of broad reforms sought by the International Monetary Fund to resume disbursement of credits under a $5 billion standby arrangement. Zelensky defended the dismissal as necessary to right the company’s finances.

Ukraine’s cabinet also announced the appointment of Yulia Svyridenko, the Deputy Presidential Chief of staff, to represent the government on the Naftogaz Supervisory Board. She succeeds Robert Bensh, a Houston oil and gas executive.