German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday defended an agreement reached with Washington to allow the unsanctioned termination of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a project aimed at transporting natural gas from Russia to Germany.
She called the deal announced Wednesday “good for Kiev”, although the $ 11 billion Nord Stream 2 project, 98 per cent of which has been completed, will bypass both Ukraine and Poland. But Berlin and Washington said they were committed to blocking any attempt by Moscow to use the pipeline as a political weapon aimed at controlling Europe’s energy supply.
Germany and the US agreed to fund alternative energy and development projects in Ukraine and Poland, although both countries expressed dissatisfaction with the deal, saying it was not enough to reduce the Russian threat to energy.
“The differences remain. We saw it in yesterday’s reactions“Merkel told reporters in Berlin, referring to the controversy over the agreement in the US Congress.
The Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Poland said in a joint statement that the German-American agreement established a “political, military and energy threat to Ukraine and Central Europe, as well as increased Russia’s potential to destabilize the security situation in Europe“.
Republican and Democrat lawmakers also criticized the deal. Republican Sen. John Barrasso told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that “President (Biden) is giving Russia a new geopolitical weapon.”
Although Germany has pledged $ 245 million to develop new energy sources in Ukraine, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen questioned the importance of the plan.
Ms Shaheen, who has backed the sanctions law over the Nord Stream 2 project, said Russian President Vladimir Putinhas made it clear through his rhetoric and actions that he will circumvent any Western-imposed conditions in order to advance the Kremlin agenda“.
But President Joe Biden’s administration, seeking to mend ties with Germany that weakened during the Trump administration, said the pipeline construction has reached a point that is difficult to give up.
Ms Merkel said Germany already had “a lot of work to do”, hoping it could mediate an extension of an existing agreement that expires in 2024 to transport Russian gas through Ukraine, which would provided Kiev with billions of dollars in transit tariffs. Germany also hopes to build a “reverse line” of gas supplies from European supply systems to Ukraine.
The German leader said “we are not completely defenseless” against Russia, keeping open the possibility of new sanctions if Moscow imposes an inadequate burden on Europe’s energy supply.
The Kremlin says it has never used energy as a geopolitical weapon.
“Russia has always been and remains a responsible guarantor of energy on the European continent, or even on a wider, global scale.“Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
In the past Russian natural gas supplies through Ukraine have been disrupted by tariff disputes, which have raised doubts about the political intentions behind them.
Mr. Peskov said that Russia is ready to discuss the extension of the agreement on the transit of transit gas through Ukraine, beyond 2024./VOA
