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NORD STREAM

Germany, EU fume at US ‘interference’ over Russian gas pipeline

Germany on Saturday accused the United States of interfering in its internal affairs, in an increasingly angry spat over Washington's decision to impose sanctions on companies involved with a major project to supply western Europe with Russian gas.

Published: 22 December 2019 10:19 CET
Germany, EU fume at US 'interference' over Russian gas pipeline
A file photo showing Nord Stream 2 construction. Photo: DPA

Moscow and the European Union also issued statements criticising the sanctions, a day after President Donald Trump signed off on asset freezes and visa restrictions on those involved in the Nord Stream 2 project.

US lawmakers are seeking to stymie what they regard as an increasing reliance on Russian energy in western Europe by targeting the project, which aims to double the amount of Russian natural gas reaching Germany via a pipeline under the Baltic Sea.

The sanctions target contractors working to lay pipes for Nord Stream 2 –a 10-billion-euro ($11-billion) project expected to be completed in early 2020 — and another Russian gas project, TurkStream.

Full details of the sanctions have not yet been released and US officials have 60 days to disclose the names of the companies and individuals concerned.

In the first sign that the sanctions were beginning to bite, Swiss contractor Allseas suspended its Nord Stream 2 activities while it awaited clarification from the US authorities.

However, Nord Stream 2 said in reaction to the statement from Allseas that it would continue to work until the pipeline was finished.

Although US Congress overwhelmingly backed the sanctions, there was criticism from some lawmakers of a move that in effect punishes NATO allies such as Germany.

The move brought angry reactions from Berlin, Moscow and Brussels on Saturday.

An EU spokesman said the bloc was opposed “as a matter of principle to the imposition of sanctions against European companies engaged in legal activities”.

The German government reacted most forcefully, with Chancellor AngelaMerkel's spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer saying Berlin rejected “these sorts of extra-territorial sanctions”.

“They will hit German and European companies and constitute an interference in our internal affairs,” she said.

Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said the sanctions were an infringement of sovereignty.

However, he said there would not be a tit-for-tat reaction, telling GermanTV: “It is up to the companies involved in the construction of the pipeline to take the next decisions.”

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the UnitedStates of pushing an ideology that hindered global trade, adding on her Facebook page: “Soon they will demand that we stop breathing.”

But the United States is not the only nation to question the project –Ukraine, Poland and some Baltic nations have also expressed doubts.

“Despite the involvement in the Nord Stream 2 project of companies from some EU countries, this pipeline has never been a European or EU project,” said Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski, quoted by the PAP news agency.

“Instead, it remains an instrument for the realisation of Russian economic and, potentially, military policy.”

Ukraine had worried that the new pipeline would cut it out of the gas supply business and allow Russia to ratchet up pressure.

And Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk said on Twitter that he welcomed the sanctions against a “politically motivated” project.

US lawmakers had cited support of Kiev as part of their justification for imposing sanctions.

But Demmer said this rationale was “particularly incomprehensible” because Moscow and Kiev reached an agreement in principle last week that will regulate the transit of Russian gas to Ukraine from 2020.

More than 80 percent of the undersea pipeline has been completed for the project — half-financed by Russia's state-owned Gazprom, with the other half paid for by five European companies.

READ ALSO: Germany goes ahead with gas pipeline despite US protests

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NORD STREAM

Nord Stream: Investigators link Ukrainian-owned yacht to sabotage, reports claim

German investigators have identified the boat they believe was used in the sabotage attack on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, according to a report in the Die Zeit newspaper, based on a joint investigation with the broadcasters ARD and SWR. 

Published: 8 March 2023 08:33 CET
Nord Stream: Investigators link Ukrainian-owned yacht to sabotage, reports claim

According to the report, a group of five men and one woman rented the yacht from a Polish-based company with Ukrainian owners. The group all used false passports and their true nationalities are unknown.

Traces of explosives have been found on the yacht, which set sail from the German city of Rostock on September 6th, 20 days before the explosions, which destroyed the two pipelines at a point off the coast of Sweden and just south of the Danish island of Bornholm. 

“The traces lead in the direction of Ukraine,” Die Zeit wrote in its article. “However, investigators have not yet found any evidence as to who ordered the destruction.” 

The newspaper said that, “according to its information”, a western intelligence service had already tipped off its European partners in the autumn that a Ukrainian commando unit had been responsible for the attack, after which there had been “further intelligence indications that a pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the attack. 

In a separate report, the New York Times newspaper reported that US officials had seen new intelligence indicating a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible for the sabotage.

The Times report said US officials had no evidence implicating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the pipeline bombing, and it did not identify the source of the intelligence or the group involved.

The attack, the newspaper said, benefitted Ukraine by severely damaging Russia’s ability to reap millions of dollars by selling natural gas to Western Europe. The intelligence suggested that the perpetrators behind the sabotage were “opponents of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia”, the Times report said.

When confronted with the reports, Ukraine denied any involvement.

The country’s presidential adviser Mychajlo Podoljak told ARD that Ukraine “of course had nothing to do with the attacks on Nord Stream-2”. There was, he said, “no confirmation that Ukrainian officials or the military took part in this operation or that people were dispatched to act on their behalf.”

It was still conceivable that Russia was behind it, he said. “There are many more motives and many more uses in this scenario.” 

He later tweeted that Ukraine “has nothing to do with the Baltic Sea mishap”. 

Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Russian president Vladimir Putin, claimed the reports had been fabricated by the true “authors of the attack” as a diversion. 

“How can American officials assume anything without an investigation?” he told the Ria news agency, complaining that Russia was not part of the investigation of this “monstrous crime”.

The Russian embassy in the US blamed the reports on US intelligence services, which it accused of “an attempt to confuse anyone who sincerely wishes to seek out the truth in this flagrant crime”

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