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The USA and Germany apparently settle a dispute: What the agreement at Nord Stream 2 means – politics

The dispute over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has strained the relationship between Germany and the USA for almost two years. But now both states have apparently reached an agreement, as US media report unanimously. Accordingly, the government in Washington is giving up its resistance to the controversial gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. The federal government initially did not want to comment on the news from the USA on Wednesday, but was confident that an agreement can be announced soon.

Cornerstones of the agreement

According to the “Wall Street Journal” and the Bloomberg news agency, which cited sources in Washington and Berlin, Germany is said to have promised to support Ukraine with diplomatic and energy projects. Germany and the USA would therefore invest a two- to three-digit million amount in the expansion of renewable energies in Ukraine. Germany will also support energy talks within the “Three Seas Initiative”, an alliance of twelve Eastern and Central European countries.

In addition, Germany and the USA want to ensure that the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine continues and that the country continues to receive fees from Moscow. A corresponding contract between the two states will expire at the end of 2024. The federal government should now endeavor to have this agreement extended for a further ten years.

After her conversation with US President Joe Biden in Washington, Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized that Ukraine must remain a transit country. If Russia does not adhere to this, there would be a “multitude of instruments”. The US reserves the right to impose sanctions in the event that Russia uses the new pipeline to exert pressure on Ukraine.

In the course of the negotiations, the USA had asked Germany for a shutdown device for the pipeline so that the gas tap could be turned off if necessary. Here the Germans, who raised legal concerns, apparently prevailed. There is no longer any question of a “kill switch”. However, according to the reports, Germany should also announce consequences at national and European level in the agreement if Russia were to use energy policy as a weapon against Ukraine.

The USA’s calculation

The deal would mean that the Biden government will change course in the two-year-long conflict that is weighing on bilateral relations. Biden has been critical of the project for years. Nonetheless, in May he announced that he would waive sanctions against the operating company of Nord Stream 2 and its German managing director Matthias Warnig in order to enable a restart of transatlantic relations after four tense years under his predecessor Donald Trump.

Previously, work on the pipeline had been interrupted because of the US sanctions against a Swiss company whose ships are laying the pipes. A deadline expires in August by which Biden must notify the US Congress whether he will stick to this stance. There is great opposition to the pipeline in Congress, including in Biden’s own party. The president tries to convince the critics by arguing that Nord Stream 2 was more than 90 percent completed when he took office in January, so he was no longer able to prevent the project.

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The position of Ukraine

The leadership in Kiev is not primarily concerned with compensating for the possible omission of transit fees from Russia, but with the security of their country. Shortly before Merkel’s trip to Washington, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky issued another urgent warning against the pipeline project. Nord Stream 2 is a “potential threat to the security of Ukraine and the region,” he said during a visit to Berlin.

Kiev is also skeptical of the transit agreement with Russia, which will run until 2024, and no one there wants to rely on commitments from Moscow. That is why Ukraine is demanding European guarantees for energy security.

She is also interested in keeping the United States at the negotiating table after the dispute over the pipeline has been resolved. Selenski therefore suggested that the Nord Stream 2 issue should be dealt with in the framework of the peace talks brokered by Germany and France for eastern Ukraine and that the USA should be included in the peace negotiations at the same time. Selenski should also get an appointment at the White House this summer. According to US media reports, a State Department representative briefed the Ukrainian President on the deal on Nord Stream 2 this week.

Warnings from Russia

The Russian President recently threatened Ukraine quite blatantly. The further gas transit through the country depends on the goodwill of Ukraine, said Vladimir Putin at an economic forum in St. Petersburg at the beginning of June. The construction of Nord Stream 2 enables the Kremlin to stop using the lines running through Ukraine.

[Die Russlamd-Connection: Lesen Sie bei Tagesspiegel Plus, wie sich Mecklenburg-Vorpommern für die umstrittene Pipeline einsetzte.]

Critics of the project fear that nothing would then prevent Russia from fueling the still smoldering military conflict in eastern Ukraine. Putin’s remarks suggest that Russia could actually use gas transit as a lever to obtain concessions from Ukraine.

Just a few days before Merkel’s visit to Washington, the Kremlin also published an essay by Putin on the historical role of Ukraine. In it, the Russian President indirectly denies independence to the neighboring country. Putin emphasizes that Russians and Ukrainians are “one people”. Those, especially in Eastern Europe, who have learned from bitter experience to take Kremlin statements seriously, see this essay as further evidence that Putin regards Ukraine as part of a Russian sphere of influence.

The view of the Eastern Europeans

Former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski criticized the deal in no uncertain terms. “The hard truth is that there isn’t enough Russian gas to fill both the Druzhba, Yamal and Nord Stream 2 pipelines,” he told journalists in Washington. From the start, Putin was about depriving Ukraine of its transit fees and blackmailing it.

Sikorski’s criticism of Berlin is particularly sharp. Germany has decided to put its own economic advantage above the geopolitical interests of the entire EU and especially above the security interests of Central and Eastern Europe, said Sikorski. The Biden government, in turn, believes that China is the greatest threat and therefore needs Germany and Europe’s support, said the MEP. For this, Washington is now sacrificing the interests of Central and Eastern Europe.

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