Ukraine insists Russia's Nord Stream 2 must be subject to 'no exemptions' from EU law

Amid tensions between Kyiv and Moscow, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba claimed that Russia is seeking to take advantage of loopholes in European legislation to ensure special conditions for Nord Stream 2. Kuleba’s remark comes after Germany earlier this month suspended the certification process ​​of Nord Stream 2 AG, the Gazprom-owned, Swiss-registered company, saying that the process will resume after the parent company has transferred capital and personnel to a German subsidiary. 

However, Ukraine on Monday, 22 November, insisted that there should be no exceptions, urging the nation’s partners to close ranks and insist the European legislation be fully applied to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline despite efforts by Russian lobbyists and lawyers. According to a press release, Kuleba also reminded that Ukraine had offered a discount on the transit of Russian gas. However, he added that for Russia Nord Stream-2 is a “political and not an economic project”. 

“Together with a number of EU countries and the European Commission, Ukraine insists that Nord Stream 2 be completely in line not only with the spirit but also with the letter of the EU's Third Energy Package. We are working to prevent Russia from turning Nord Stream 2 into a Nord weapon," stated Kuleba. 

“Nord Stream 2 has never been an economic project. This is a security project with the sole purpose - to bypass Ukraine, to remove one of the factors deterring Russian aggression," he added.

Further, the Ukrainian minister claimed that Moscow was exerting pressure on the EU on several fronts of its “hybrid war” by manipulating the Nord Stream 2 certification process. Kuleba said that the pipeline project was long supposed to have been launched and put into operation, but the fact that it is still not working is the result of the joint efforts. He also went on to say that the ongoing migration crisis on the Polish-Belarus border and the military build-up on the part of the Russian Federation along the border with Ukraine are all elements of the “same game” aimed to up the pressure on the EU to force the bloc to accept concessions. 

Nord Stream 2 project

Meanwhile, it is to mention that Russia announced the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline construction on 10 September. The Nord Stream 2 is built under the Baltic Sea and bypasses Poland and Ukraine. It is a 1,230-km gas pipeline and would bring 55 million cubic meters of gas annually from Russia to Germany. 

Poland and Ukraine expressed concern over the pipeline’s completion as they believe Russia could use Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a political weapon. Ukraine has described the new pipeline as a powerful geopolitical weapon for Russia. The 1,230-kilometre natural gas line project has also posed a major foreign policy dilemma for the US, who has strongly opposed the construction and said that Moscow's pipeline is a geopolitical manoeuver that will undermine Ukraine’s role in transiting energy to Europe and increase European dependence on Russian gas.

(Image: AP)