Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on February 2 that if Germany wants to support Ukraine, then it must say goodbye to Russia’s Nord Stream 2 (SP-2) gas pipeline. Spiegel reports.
The politician stressed that “dependence on Russia is dangerous.”
“If Germany wants to support Ukraine, it must say goodbye to Nord Stream 2. This would be an important tool. At such a difficult moment, Germany must act. Of course, I understand that Nord Stream 2 would be good for the German economy. But dependence on Russia is dangerous,” Klitschko said.
He expressed the opinion that Moscow “would like to return not only Ukraine to the zone of influence.”
The mayor of Kiev also urged Berlin to “think strategically” about arms supplies to Ukraine.
“I understand that Germany does not supply weapons to the aggressor country. But this is a completely different matter if they want to defend themselves, ”Klitschko said.
On January 30, the head of the Federal Network Agency of Germany, Jochen Hohmann, said that a decision on the certification of the operator of SP-2 would hardly be made before the end of June. According to him, the German regulator is still waiting to receive all the documents necessary to consider the relevant application.
On January 29, Friedrich Merz, chairman of the German opposition Christian Democratic Union party, said that from an economic point of view, the idea of stopping the SP-2 gas pipeline is unreasonable, since huge amounts of money have been invested in the project. On January 28, Stefan Keuter, a member of the Bundestag from the Alternative for Germany party, called for the gas pipeline not to be used as a “political toy”.
On January 27, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock announced that Germany was ready to include SP-2 in the list of sanctions against Russia in the event of its invasion of Ukraine. Prior to this, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Washington, in the event that the crisis around Ukraine continues to escalate, intends to prevent the SP-2 from being put into operation. He pointed out that the fact that the pipeline has not yet been launched gives the United States leverage against Russia.
The construction of SP-2 was completed on September 10, 2021. It was built from the Russian Federation to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea for the purpose of direct gas supplies to Europe. The EU countries mainly support the project and participate in its implementation. The Baltic States, Poland, the United States and Ukraine are opposed.
In November 2021, the German regulator suspended the certification of Nord Stream 2 AG as an independent operator of NSP-2. On January 26, 2022, it became known that Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of Nord Stream 2, registered a subsidiary in Germany for the German section of the Gas for Europe GMBH gas pipeline.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
