Nord Stream 2 cannot work if Russia attacks Ukraine
Well-known German politicians are calling for a halt to the Nord Stream-2 project in the event of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine at a time when German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbok is holding talks with Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
Thoughts gathered by the magazine Spiegel, Ukrinform reports.
Political actors “do not need to withdraw the potential for deterrence against Russia in this critical phase,” said a member of the Bundestag, an expert on CDU foreign policy Norbert Rettgen. According to him, for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine is only an “excuse” to review the European order, if necessary – with the help of military means. “Only if Putin occasionally reckons countless consequences can the West possibly prevent him (Putin) from resorting to violence,” Rettgen said. Germany in such a situation, the observed policy, should not go by its own strength, but should show together with the United States.
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ex-Chancellor of Germany, the Social Democrat, also spoke in the same vein. Sigmar Gabriel. “You can only gain strength in negotiations if you seriously oppose the Russian threat of a military invasion of Ukraine,” Gabriel said. Russia, he said, must “know the cost of war in Europe.” Gabriel thus objected to his fellow party member, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, saying that the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline was a purely private project. “In this respect, it has never been a purely economic project, but has always been linked to the political conditions that the Russian president has always had,” he added. “Of course, Nord Stream 2 cannot work if Russia attacks Ukraine,” Gabriel said.
“Green” policy Anton Gofreiter called for the decision on the commissioning of Nord Stream-2 to be postponed as long as possible. “For geostrategic reasons alone, it is wise to keep this issue open for as long as possible,” he said. Otherwise, Germany would lose “a means of putting pressure on Putin.” Gofreiter called the pipeline “problematic for two reasons”: first, because of the environment, and second, because Putin can completely bypass Ukraine and Poland with the help of this pipeline. Germany, according to a member of the Bundestag, is in fact not dependent on Nord Stream 2, because there are enough gas pipelines leading through Ukraine.
As it turned out, the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea has already been built. The Federal Network Agency is currently verifying that all legal requirements for compliance have been met, and the certification process will not be completed by the summer. At the same time, the issue of the gas situation is a serious disagreement in the ruling coalition of Germany.
