Warsaw, 27 September 2022 (dpa/MIA) - Government representatives from Poland, Denmark and Norway have opened the new Baltic Pipe, a pipeline which will take natural gas from Norway via Denmark to Poland. "The era of Russian domination of gas is coming to an end, an era marked by blackmail, threats and coercion," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday at the symbolic inauguration of the Baltic Pipe compressor station in Goleniów near the Polish port city of Szczecin. The most important supplier of natural gas to many European countries has until now been Russia. Deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany have however been cut to zero in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and multiple leaks have been discovered in Nord Stream 1 and its sister pipeline Nord Stream 2. A new era of energy sovereignty and freedom is beginning, Morawiecki said. solidarity can make the continent more secure, he added. "This day marks a crucial geopolitical step for all of us," said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Norway's Oil and Energy Minister Terje Aasland said that Russia's President Vladimir Putin wants to divide the West, but he is not succeeding. The Baltic Pipe is a 900-kilometre-long branch of the existing Europipe II pipeline, which runs from Norway through the North Sea to the German state of Lower Saxony. In future, Norwegian natural gas can also be transported to the east through the Baltic Pipe. The pipeline connects to the existing pipeline west of Denmark in the North Sea, it then leads to the Danish mainland and on through the Baltic Sea to Poland. The construction costs for the project amount to €1.6 billion ($1.54 billion). The Polish network operator Gaz-System and the Danish state-owned company Energinet contributed the largest share. Energinet is responsible for the overall operation of the electricity and gas system in Denmark. Baltic Pipe was subsidized with €250 million of EU funds. Gas is scheduled to flow through the pipeline from October 1. The Polish gas operator PGNiG expects at least 6.5 billion cubic metres of natural gas to flow to Poland next year. In the following year, it should be 7.5 billion cubic metres, the company announced on Tuesday.