The situation around relations between the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation may hurt the Nord Stream-2 project in light of the escalation of tensions between Russia and the West, Pavel Kanevsky, associate professor of the Department of Political Science and Sociology of Political Processes at the Sociological Faculty of Moscow State University, considers.
Earlier, the US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Washington supports the Czech Republic in its decisive response to “subversive actions of Russia”, which, according to him, threaten, including energy security.
“This now fits into the general picture of the escalation of relations between Russia and the West. There is a deterioration in relations not only with the United States, but also with the EU countries. It is clear that deterioration of relations can also affect Nord Stream-2, – the expert told the reporters, commenting on the possibility of US pressure on the EU on the energy project because of Prague’s accusations against Moscow.
According to him, all actions are now proceeding according to the “classic scenario of escalation”: measures – countermeasures. Kanevsky believes that individual relations between the EU countries and Russia will not disappear anywhere.
Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babiš said on Saturday evening that authorities suspect Russian special services of involvement in an explosion at an ammunition depot in Vrbetica in 2014. In turn, First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said that 18 Russian diplomats would be expelled from the country, who must leave the country within 48 hours. On Sunday, Russia announced its retaliatory measures against the expulsion of its diplomats from Prague. The Ambassador of the Czech Republic, Vitezslav Pivonka, summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, was informed that 20 embassy employees were declared persona non grata, who must leave the territory of the Russian Federation within 24 hours.
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on Russia’s national debt. Later at a press conference, US President Joe Biden, when asked why additional sanctions were not imposed on Nord Stream-2, said the project is a complex issue that affects allies in Europe. However, he added that new sanctions against the pipeline are still under discussion.
Nord Stream-2 envisages the construction of two lines of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The project is actively opposed by the United States, which is promoting its liquefied natural gas to the EU, as well as Ukraine and a number of European countries. The states imposed sanctions against the gas pipeline in December 2019, as a result of which the Swiss Allseas was forced to stop laying. It continued a year later – in December 2020.
According to the project operator Nord Stream-2 AG (a 100% subsidiary of Gazprom), as of March 31, Nord Stream 2 was 95% completed, 121 kilometers of the total length of the gas pipeline remained to be laid along two lines.