In response to Russia’s actions recognizing Donetsk and Luhansk as sovereign republics, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz began the process of halting certification for the Nord Stream 2 project, as had been demanded by Western war hawks. In statements to the media this morning, he said, “Today, I asked the Federal Ministry of Economics to withdraw from the Federal Grid Agency a report on ensuring energy security. This sounds like a technical moment, but it is a necessary step so that the certification of the gas pipeline cannot take place now.”
Without this certification, Nord Stream 2 cannot be launched,” Sputnik reported him saying. “Given Russia’s latest action,” the certification “cannot go ahead,” Scholz told reporters. According to RT, he elaborated that “this is now about taking concrete steps relating to the situation that we have seen now.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed regret at Scholz’s announcement, TASS reported. He added that he hoped the certification suspension would be only temporary. “It is to be hoped that such projects are hindered only for some time, for various political reasons,” he said. “The way we see it, this is wrong anyway. This is a purely economic, commercial project, which, alongside yielding mutual benefits, is called to serve as a stabilizing factor for the European gas market. Both providers and recipients of our gas, in the first place, Germany and the other European countries, are interested in it.”
