Will the billion dollar ruin go into operation?

Brussels, Berlin The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was one of the most important energy projects of the past decades – today it is a billion-dollar ruin. In response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the federal government halted certification. But the Kremlin has not abandoned the project.

President Vladimir Putin sent a poisoned offer to Berlin this week. The problems with the gas supply via Nord Stream 1 are regrettable, but Germany can put Nord Stream 2 into operation. “We still have one finished route – that’s Nord Stream 2,” Putin said. Of course, the Kremlin ruler knows that the pipeline is politically highly controversial.

In Brussels, Eastern Europe and the US, they saw Nord Stream 2 as a Russian energy weapon from the start, designed to increase Germany’s gas dependency and divide Europe. Should the federal government give in to Russian pressure and put the pipeline into operation, Berlin would be seen as an accomplice of the Kremlin.