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Germany, on Monday (February 1, 2021), opposed France’s calls to abandon the “Nord Stream 2” gas pipeline project with Russia in response to the crackdown on demonstrations in support of the arrested Alexei Navalny.
A spokeswoman for the German government, Martina Witz, told reporters that “the federal government has not changed its basic position” on this issue, meaning that Berlin will continue to support the energy project and refuse to link it to Navalny’s arrest for part of the Kremlin.
The French Minister of State for European Affairs, Clement Bonn, said on the radio “France Inter” at the beginning of the day: “We have always said that we have the biggest doubts about this project in this context.” In response to a question on whether France supports the abandonment of the project, he replied: “We have already said, yes.”
The United States and several European countries such as Poland view this new project negatively, which is added to the existing “Nord Stream 1” gas pipeline that is already in service, believing that it will increase the dependence of Germany and the European Union on Russian gas, and thus Moscow. The Europeans intend to impose new sanctions on Moscow if Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to crack down on dissent.
“Sanctions have already been imposed, other sanctions can be imposed, but we must be clear, that is not enough,” said the French minister. He added: “I think the option (to impose related sanctions) on Nord Stream is an option”, but “this decision today is in the hands of Germany, because it is a gas pipeline that reaches Germany.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for her part, confirmed her commitment to this project on January 21.
And work on the project, which costs 9 billion euros and extends 1,200 km underwater in German waters, resumed in early December after it was suspended for a year due to US sanctions.
The Nord Stream 2 project cost nine billion euros and extends over a distance of 1,200 km under water
However, the project is causing increasing embarrassment in Berlin, with the Russian regime tightening. On Sunday, Russian police arrested more than 5,000 people and cordoned off several cities, including Moscow, during new demonstrations in support of the opposition. Alexei Navalny.
Today, the Russian Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the Navalny prison on the eve of a hearing in which a Russian dissident faces a possible sentence of two or three years in prison. And the Prosecutor’s Office announced in a statement that it supports “this request as legal and justified.”
Will these recent events prompt Germany to reconsider its huge economic project with Russia?
HD / AH (AFP, DBA)
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