JOHN MACDOUGALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
- Germany said it’s axing the Nord Stream II pipeline deal because Russia moved forces into Ukraine.
- Putin ordered Russian forces into pro-Kremlin areas of eastern Ukraine late Monday.
- The pipeline connects Russia gas fields to Europe, and was fiercely opposed by the US.
Germany says it’s scrapping its plans for the Nord Stream II pipeline, after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine.
During an address on the Ukraine crisis Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he decided to “reassess” the certification of the pipeline.
“In light of the most recent developments we must reassess the situation in particular regarding Nord Stream 2,” he said. “The situation has fundamentally changed.”
It was the first significant economic consequence for Putin’s Russia after its escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. The US, EU, and UK also promised formal economic sanctions later on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Germany should abandon Nord Stream II over Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
Reports from eastern Ukraine late Monday showed Russian tanks moving into the pro-Kremlin Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR.)
Following a meeting of Russia’s security council on Monday, Putin recognized the regions as independent and ordered in Russian troops on what was called a “peacekeeping” mission.
Scholz said Tuesday that Germany would now reassess how to meet its energy needs without the Nord Stream II pipeline.
The pipeline provided a route between Russian gas production sites and mainland Europe and work was completed in September 2021. Earlier pipes went via Ukraine.
The pipeline, owned by Russian gas corporation Gazprom, cost 10 billion euros ($11.5 billion) and was to transport 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year.
“The appropriate departments of the economy ministry will make a new assessment of the security of our supply in light of what has changed in last few days,” Scholz said.
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
The US said in late January that the pipeline would not open should Russia invade Ukraine.
“We will work with Germany to ensure it does not move forward,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said at the time.
The US has long been concerned that new energy infrastructure between Russia and Europe would deepen European dependence on Russia for energy, making it harder to oppose any aggressive political moves.
During the Trump administration, the US sanctioned a number of Russian companies working on the pipeline, but those restraints were lifted in May 2021.
However, in a statement issued shortly after, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken said: “Nord Stream 2 is a bad deal — for Germany, for Ukraine, and for our Central and Eastern European allies and partners.”
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