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MFA: Berlin's Decision on Nord Stream 2 Sets Precedent of Using Business Project for Political Gains

© REUTERS / Hannibal HanschkeA road sign directs traffic towards the Nord Stream 2 gas line landfall facility entrance in Lubmin, Germany, September 10, 2020.
A road sign directs traffic towards the Nord Stream 2 gas line landfall facility entrance in Lubmin, Germany, September 10, 2020.  - Sputnik International, 1920, 02.03.2022
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Berlin announced that the pipeline's certification was paused due to Russia's decision to recognise the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) and start an operation in Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned the actions of the German government regarding the Nord Stream 2 project, saying it was "the logical culmination of the doctrine of the primacy of politics over economics".
"As it is now becoming clear, the German authorities were inconsistent and succumbed to the temptation under [external] pressure to use the project as leverage against Russia. They thus demonstrated their inability to separate politics and economics", Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
The foreign ministry's spokeswoman further slammed the "unworthy trickery" of Berlin, which decided to withdraw conclusion the government had issued about the fact that there was no threat to energy security from Nord Stream 2. Zakharova warned that the consequence of these actions will be for gas prices in Europe to rocket, which has already begun and which Nord Stream 2 was designed to prevent.
The spokeswoman also suggested that investors in Nord Stream 2 would be within their rights to sue the German government for its decision to suspend the pipeline's certification, and demand compensation. She noted that this "illegitimate act" undermined Berlin's reputation as a reliable international business partner.
Nord Stream 2 was built by Gazprom in collaboration with several European energy giants - Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, Engie, Uniper and Wintershall. The pipeline has the capacity to pump up to 55 million cubic metres of gas from Russia to Europe. Its construction was finished last year, but the German government was withholding its certification.
Berlin then announced that it had frozen the project because of Russia's decision to recognise Donetsk and Lugansk People's republics (DPR and LPR), and launch a special operation in Ukraine, which the western nations labelled an "invasion". Russia rejected the idea that it was an invasion and insists that the operation was required to end the "genocide" that Kiev has been committing in Donbass for eight years with the West's acquiescence. President Vladimir Putin described the goals of the operation as demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.
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