The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia would not be allowed to operate in the event of any new “escalation” in Ukraine, under an agreement between Berlin and Washington, new German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday.
“In the event of further escalation, this gas pipeline could not come into service,” Baerbock told German television station ZDF.
Baerbock was speaking after the weekend G7 meeting on tensions with Russia, and ahead of a sit-down with her European partners yesterday.
Photo: AFP
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had earlier said during a visit to Poland: “It would be a serious mistake to believe that violating the borders of a European country would remain without consequences.”
The pipeline, which has been backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the one hand and by Scholz’s predecessor, former German chancellor Angela Merkel, on the other over the past few years, has been heavily criticized by many countries.
Ukraine — until now one of the major transit countries for Russian gas to Europe, as well as fighting Russian-backed separatist forces inside its own borders — fears that it would be economically and diplomatically weakened by the project, which bypasses its territory.
Scholz said that Germany would “do anything” to ensure that Ukraine remains a transit country for Russian gas exports to Europe.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asked Scholz to suspend the pipeline, saying that Moscow would use it to “blackmail” Europe.
The call came as Scholz visited Warsaw for the first time since replacing Merkel last week, on his third foreign visit, following trips to Paris and Brussels.
“It would be better not to allow the opening of Nord Stream 2,” Morawiecki told a joint news conference with Scholz after their talks.
“I drew the chancellor’s attention to the risks linked to the opening of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and sadly the extent to which ... these risks for Ukraine could get considerably worse,” Morawiecki said.
Poland has long opposed the 10 billion euro (US$11.3 billion) pipeline, which is majority owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom.
The 1,200km pipeline, which runs underwater from Russia’s Baltic coast to northeastern Germany, was completed in September.
However, Baerbock said that the pipeline “cannot be authorized for the time being anyway, because it does not meet the rules of European energy legislation.”
In the middle of last month, the German energy regulator suspended the certification procedure for Nord Stream 2 by requiring the Swiss-based consortium in charge of its operation to create a company under German law.
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