Construction site of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, near the city of Kingisepp, Russia.
Sedan:
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced mounting pressure on Thursday to reconsider the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will bring gas from Russia to Germany, after she said Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-style nerve agent.
Merkel said Wednesday that Navalny, who is being treated at a Berlin hospital, was the victim of an assassination attempt with nerve agent Novichok, and demanded an explanation from Russia.
Moscow has denied its involvement in the incident, and the Russian Foreign Ministry said Germany’s claim was not supported by evidence.
Western countries have condemned the attack on Navalny and many German politicians want a tough response.
“We must pursue a tough policy, we must respond in the only language that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin understands, that is gas sales,” Norbert Roettgen, head of Germany’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told German radio.
“If the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is completed now, it would be the ultimate confirmation and encouragement for Putin to continue with this kind of policy,” Roettgen, a member of Merkel’s conservatives, previously told German television.
Nord Stream 2 is configured to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to transport gas directly from Russia to Germany. Led by the Russian company Gazprom with Western partners, the project is more than 90% complete and should be operational by early 2021. This may complicate efforts to stop it.
The project has divided the European Union, with some countries warning that it will undermine the traditional gas transit state, Ukraine, and increase the bloc’s dependence on Russia for energy supply.
The United States, eager to increase shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe, also opposes the pipeline and has targeted some companies involved in sanctions.
Merkel has been unwavering in her commitment to the project which includes Uniper Wintershall DEA, Royal Dutch Shell, Engie and OMV. She said last week that the Navalny case should not be linked to the pipeline. Many lawmakers from her party, which is close to doing business, still want it to end.
Former Social Democratic Chancellor (SPD) Gerhard Schroeder, Putin’s friend and lobbyist for Russian energy companies, has been involved in the pipeline and many in the SPD, which shares power with Merkel’s conservatives, are also committed to him.
“If we want to send a clear message to Moscow with our partners, then economic relations must be on the agenda and that means that the Nord Stream 2 project must not be left out,” Wolfgang Ischinger, president of the Munich Security Conference and former ambassador to Washington, he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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