BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to do everything within his power to ensure “that Nord Stream 2 cannot be put back into operation” during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Berlin.
The Nord Stream pipelines, which previously carried gas from Russia to Germany via pipelines under the Baltic Sea, were blown up in an apparent act of sabotage in late 2022. Since then, some German politicians have come out in support of restarting the flow of natural gas.
The Kremlin has also reportedly pushed for putting the pipelines back into use. In March, the Financial Times reported that Moscow had enlisted a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin to restart gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream with the backing of American investors.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is working on a new sanctions package against Russia that would also include targeting the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines.
Ensuring Nord Stream 2 cannot be put back into use will “weaken Moscow’s war machine” and “open the way for negotiations,” said Merz on Wednesday.
One of the two Nord Stream 2 pipelines is still operable despite the 2022 explosion. The blast in September 2022 that halted shipments of gas remains under investigation, though reports have linked the explosion to Ukrainian nationals.
The Nord Stream pipelines had long been a source of tension between Germany and Ukraine. Ukrainian officials long argued that Germany’s purchase of cheap Russian gas emboldened Putin and helped fund Moscow’s war machine.
Some German politicians — even from within Merz’s own conservative ranks, including Saxony’s state premier Michael Kretschmer — have pushed to put the Nord Stream pipelines back into operation to improve diplomatic ties with Moscow and to lower German energy prices amid economic stagnation.
Zelenskyy, standing alongside Merz, asked for “stronger” sanctions packages against Moscow from both Europe and the U.S.
“We can then bring about the end of the war, because the army in Russia won’t be as strong or as well financed by the Russian government,” he said.
The Commission’s is preparing another sanctions package which includes measures targeting Russia’s banking sector and the so-called shadow fleet of aging vessels with obscure ownership and unknown insurance that Moscow uses to skirt oil sanctions.
This story has been updated.
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