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meThey were clear words in the direction of Moscow that have rarely been heard from leading German politicians: “Now we have brutally faced once again the inhuman reality of the Putin regime,” said the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, Norbert. Röttgen. (CDU), the ARD with a view to the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexej Navalny. After doctors from the Berlin Charité had already found residues of a neurotoxin, a special laboratory of the Bundeswehr recently verified it.
Röttgen’s harsh judgment on the “Putin regime” was followed by other notable phrases, this time on the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. He had “long regarded the strategic partnership with Russia as a dream,” Röttgen said. If Nord Stream 2 was completed now, “that would be the ultimate confirmation for Vladimir Putin to continue exactly with this policy, because he will even be rewarded for it.” Röttgen was asking for something that has been a de facto taboo in the German government for many years: talking about the end of Nord Stream 2.
Source: WORLD infographic
Nord Stream has been the inviolable project of German-Russian relations for 15 years. Former Foreign Minister Gerhard Schröder (SPD) and his close friend Vladimir Putin agreed in 2005 to build an oil pipeline at the bottom of the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany. Nord Stream 1 has been in operation since 2012. Nord Stream 2 has been under construction since 2018; It should run in parallel and bring even more Russian gas to Germany, bypassing Eastern Europe.
Poland compared the pipeline to the Hitler-Stalin Pact
It was 15 years in which time seemed to stop at the Baltic Sea. In Russia, Vladimir Putin stripped the parliament and the regions. Putin fought the war in Georgia, Syria, eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea. Russia sabotaged the elections in Europe and America. The country became an aggressive autocracy. Nord Stream stayed.
In 2006, the then Polish Defense Minister Radek Sikorski compared the project to the Hitler-Stalin Pact. And over the years, criticism from Germany’s Eastern European partners of the pipeline continued. But nothing changed.
Is the Navalny case the turning point? Germany caused the opposition party to fly up and be dealt with in the Charité. Not medical professionals, but the federal government announced the poisoning diagnosis. The Russian ambassador was summoned. Then a leading politician from Merkel’s party questioned the project loud and clear. Can Nord Stream 2 keep crashing after all?
This is unlikely to only happen because of Navalny, after so much earlier had been left without consequences. But the case of the opposition could signal the exit of a project whose political price has been increasing recently. Because the United States is currently threatening severe penalties if the pipeline is actually completed. Navalny would offer the excuse for voluntary departure, before the United States imposes it.
The Chancellor does not seem to want to take advantage of this opportunity. Not yet. Recently, he reaffirmed that the project should be finished. Merkel only visited her constituency in Stralsund on Tuesday, less than an hour’s drive from Mukran port on the Baltic Sea in Sassnitz, where the Nord Stream pipeline will connect to the mainland.
There he commented again on the threats of sanctions from the United States Congress. “We also consider these extraterritorial sanctions illegal, that is, those that go beyond the territory of the United States,” Merkel said. In a letter in early August, three US senators threatened punitive action against board members, senior executives and shareholders if the company continued to participate in the project. The Swiss company Allseas had already recalled two pipe laying vessels several months ago after receiving a similar threat.
Merkel and Germany are increasingly isolated in Europe
Fabian Burkhardt of the Leibniz Institute for Eastern and Southeastern European Studies believes that Merkel will stick with the project. “It is not yet clear that Merkel is giving in to pressure from other EU states,” says Burkhardt. “Just because Merkel sticks to Nord Stream 2 doesn’t mean she doesn’t classify Navalny’s poisoning as extremely serious.” A sensible solution from their point of view: link the completion of Nord Stream 2 to political demands.
Is the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline now in question?
Now it’s safe: Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned. However, it is not clear how Germany will react to this in concrete terms. There are already suggestions from the ranks of the CDU and the Greens.
Merkel refuses to oppose the rough course of the US, so she is in line with many EU countries. But by sticking to Nord Stream 2, Merkel and Germany are increasingly isolated in Europe. The economic price of the end of Nord Stream 2 would be high, the German economy has invested billions and a lot of lobbying work in the project. However, the political price has fallen dramatically, says Janis Kluge, a Russia expert at the German Institute for International Security and Politics.
“Of course, canceling the project would not taste good in Moscow. But the German-Russian relationship is already very tense. There is little willingness to cooperate on the part of Russia ”. One thing is for sure: the Navalny case will allow Germany to approach Russia with more confidence, without risking being perceived as a puppet by US President Donald Trump on Nord Stream 2.
In any case, Merkel set a new tone for Moscow: When she condemned the poison attack in Berlin, she said a key phrase. “The crime is directed against the fundamental values and fundamental rights that Germany defends.” Can the chancellor pronounce sentences so serious that they are almost openly directed against Russia and at the same time pretend that Nord Stream 2 has nothing to do with it?
In any case, internal political pressure is increasing. Marieluise Beck, spokesperson for the Greens’ Eastern Europe, told WELT that the government could not, on the one hand, strongly condemn the poison attack on Navalny and, on the other hand, continue to promote Nord Stream. “If you chase your lips, you have to whistle too,” Beck said. “The German government has an important tool in hand against Russia, and it must be remembered.”
There is a dependency on energy security
The deputy leader of the FDP parliamentary group, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, told WELT: “Construction cannot continue under these circumstances.” It was time to develop a common European position. Russia must also take up the case in all the key organs of the world, including the OSCE, the UN and the Council of Europe.
Foreign policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Nils Schmid, said: “The Navalny case is so shocking that the EU should quickly agree on a common approach for Russia.”
“It is not compatible when large infrastructure projects are being promoted”
Christian Lindner and Alexander Graf Lambsdorff welcome the clear stance of the German government towards Russia in the Navalny case. However, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project should be suspended until all ambiguities have been clarified.
When it comes to Nord Stream 2, the SPD politician is more cautious. Using oil and gas as political weapons is “a double-edged effort” because one depends on each other for energy security.
His party partner and former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was long-time chairman of the Nord Stream supervisory board; today he is chairman of the supervisory board of the Russian energy company Rosneft. Schröder always says that it is a private matter. In general, across Germany’s political landscape, there is still harsh criticism along Röttgen’s line against those who advocate a compromise with Russia and for staying in dialogue.
It remains to be seen whether Schröder’s method of dealing with Vladimir Putin and Russia will continue to work after 15 years of diplomatic scandal. Russia expert Kluge believes that a course change might be the best option, despite the associated economic price: “Perhaps Berlin would take itself even more seriously later in Moscow,” says Kluge. “The EU, and the West as a whole, could in any case appear more united.” It remains to be seen which path Germany will take.
