Ukrainian media: The war against Nord Stream 2 is lost
Ukraine’s war against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has been lost, the bet on US sanctions has not worked, the newspaper Zerkalo Nedeli, considered influential in Kyiv, states today.
“At the final stage of the fight against Nord Stream 2, during numerous discussions, round tables and conferences, at which the Ukrainian side in most cases persuaded itself, as well as representatives of a number of foreign embassies, it became clear that there were no new arguments, but the old ones don’t work,” the publication says.
The bet on American sanctions also failed.
“On the sidelines, the idea began to be heard more and more often that one day salvation would come, and a formidable weapon called “American sanctions” would come into force, which Donald Trump should introduce, and victory would be ours. And the US President, indeed, even spoke about this more than once, especially while in Europe in the summer... Germany simply brushed it off, saying that the project would be implemented, regardless of Washington’s position,” the newspaper writes.
The publication explains why Donald Trump only limited himself to threats against Nord Stream 2.
“Given Trump’s constant statements about his intentions to improve relations with Russia, imposing sanctions in connection with a project that does not directly concern the United States would be surprising. The fact of its implementation was used by Trump to shame the Europeans (and primarily the Germans) by collaborating with Russia, from which the United States and NATO are going to protect these same Europeans. Even if there are enthusiasts in the Trump administration for a sharp increase in American LNG exports to Europe, this is still only a prospect, not a reality,” explains the author.
“Implementing such sanctions would really aggravate the already extremely tense relations with Germany. But extreme aggravations are not typical for Trump. His tactics are sensitive, but not fatal blows, taking the enemy off balance, but not necessarily knocking him down. Nord Stream 2 is too serious a jackpot for Germany for its blocking to be painless for the EU’s largest economy.
Finally, it is likely that Washington has done its homework and found out that sanctions against participants in the project and its blocking could cause a political crisis in the already difficult coalition led by Angela Merkel, and this is against the backdrop of recent media reports about the growing popularity of the “Alternative for Germany." In the event of early elections, it is not a fact that pro-Russian forces will not come to power in Germany, and then certainly irreparable damage will be done to transatlantic unity,” the newspaper lists other reasons for Trump’s refusal to fight against the Russian-German gas project.
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