Ukraine-Russia: Germany suspends Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

Germany has taken steps to halt the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday, as the West started taking punitive measures against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis.

The decision, which was criticised by Moscow, is a significant move for the German government.

Scholz said his government made the decision in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine that he said marked a “serious break of international law”.

“Now it’s up to the international community to react to this one-sided, incomprehensible and unjustified action by the Russian president,” he told reporters in Berlin, adding that it was necessary to “send a clear signal to Moscow that such actions won’t remain without consequences”.

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Up to now, Berlin had long resisted pulling the plug on the project, despite strong pressure from the United States and some European countries to do so. Washington has for years also argued that building another pipeline bringing natural gas from Russia to Germany — especially one that bypasses Ukraine — increases Europe’s reliance on Russian energy supplies.

US officials have also warned that Nord Stream 2 poses risks to Ukraine and Poland because it could allow Russia to stop pumping gas through those countries.

Scholz predecessor Angela Merkel had defended the project, as have prominent figures in Scholz’s centre-left Social Democratic Party.

“The situation now is fundamentally different,” Scholz said on Tuesday, explaining that the government had decided to withdraw a report on the impact that the pipeline — which hasn’t begun operating yet — would have on the security of Germany’s gas supplies.

“That may sound technical, but it’s a necessary administrative step without which the certification of the pipeline cannot happen now,” he said.

“Welcome to the brave new world where Europeans are very soon going to pay 2,000 euros for 1.000 cubic metres of natural gas!” said Medvedev, who is now deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council.