In what would be an early geopolitical win for Moscow, German news agency DW reported yesterday, citing one of the project's engineers, that the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline should be operational by November.

Klaus Haussmann, an engineer at Nord Stream 2's future landfall site at Lubmin on Germany's Baltic Sea coast, told German public radio station Deutschlandfunk that the "raw" laying of the pipeline would be finished by the middle of 2019, according to the DW report.

"Then comes the entire installation of the electrical equipment, security chains. And, then it's planned on the large scale that we get the first conduit filled with gas in November, from Russia," Haussmann said.

Haussmann said his concern was more the impact of the Baltic's winter weather and waves on construction at sea and less so the international pros and cons.