Czech journalist Adam Cerny called a way to “knock the chair” out of the Nord Stream 2 project. He wrote about this in a column for iRozhlas.
According to the observer, the West needs to find an option in which Ukraine will not fall into a political and economic hole after the launch of the gas pipeline. At the same time, Cherny clarified that it was impossible to stop the project, since this would result in lawsuits demanding reimbursement of billions of dollars spent on the construction of Nord Stream 2.
“Among the possible options, the most realistic seems to be the one in which the gas pipeline can be completed and then set strict conditions for its use,” the author writes.
In his opinion, this will allow linking Nord Stream 2 with the political context and ensuring that Russia does not use it as a lever of pressure on Ukraine.
Germany could also link its launch to plans to support Kiev’s energy independence, Cherny said.
Nord Stream 2 envisages the construction of two pipelines with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to Germany. The project is actively opposed by Ukraine, which fears losing revenues from the transit of Russian gas, as well as the United States, which is promoting its liquefied natural gas to the European Union.
The administration of United States President Joe Biden previously imposed sanctions against ships completing the construction of Nord Stream 2, but did not apply them against the German Nord Stream 2 AG, explaining this by its unwillingness to quarrel with allies. At the same time, Washington admitted that new restrictive measures against the pipeline are already pointless, since it is practically completed.
Russia has repeatedly stressed that Nord Stream 2 is a commercial project that cannot be politicized. Moscow recalled that the completion of the construction of the highway is beneficial to the European Union and Germany. Berlin also rejects the unilateral extraterritorial sanctions of the United States.