The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline running from Russia to northeastern Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea was completed and made ready for operation in the autumn of the previous year but still does not operate. Ukraine flames up the situation and pushes Germany to prevent the start of the gas pipeline.
According to the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, Berlin should abandon the Nord Stream 2 project as one of the “tough” measures that should be taken by the collective West against Russia to prevent the aggravation of the crisis in Ukraine.
“In order to prevent a new Russian invasion, our partners in Europe and the US would have to take very tough preventative punitive measures against Moscow before Putin extends his military intervention, and not afterwards, when it is too late,” Melnyk said on Monday.
He claimed that “the final abandonment of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline should be part of this package.”
However, this threat is not likely to become true, as, in mid-December, the German association of underground gas storage operators said that the country’s reserves had fallen below 60 per cent, constituting a “historically low level” compared to previous years, and warned that storage would fall further to potentially dangerous levels by February.
Nevertheless, Melnyk went on to try to accuse Germany of its historic responsibility for World War II, suggesting that Berlin has the same kind of obligation to help Ukraine today as it has had to assist Israel. The diplomat claimed that support from Berlin is Germany’s historical duty for its “eternal historical responsibility to Ukraine for Nazi tyranny.”
So, at present, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is said not to meet European Union requirements for certification yet and the process is to be suspended until the operator makes the required changes.
Speaking to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, indicated that the future launch of Nord Stream 2 has geopolitical implications, and therefore the new government in Berlin demands that all requirements be met before certification, RT reports.
As reminded, approval of the pipeline was suspended in mid-November after the German Federal Network Agency, the Bundesnetzagentur, insisted that operator Nord Stream 2 AG create a German subsidiary. The German Energy Ministry described the suspension as a regulatory issue and an interim step, and the process will resume when the firm migrates.
Ru-Main, 11.01.2022
Source: Sputnik
