Germany could renege on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
Scholz’s comments, made on Tuesday following a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, come as the world anxiously awaits to see whether Russia will invade Ukraine after amassing a sizable deployment to the border.
“It is clear that there will be a high price to pay and that everything will have to be discussed should there be a military intervention in Ukraine,” he said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met with her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday. Baerbock said, “We have repeatedly underlined at various levels of this government that if energy is used as a weapon, that would also have a corresponding impact on this pipeline,” while Lavrov argued that such politicization is “counterproductive.”
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Russia has amassed a large military presence on the border with Ukraine, with the threat of an invasion present for weeks. The Russians want NATO to stay out of Ukraine and other nations formerly a part of the Soviet Union, while the United States is hoping to avoid conflict and an invasion, though both sides have balked at the other’s demands.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Tuesday, “We believe we’re now at a stage where Russia could at any point launch an attack on Ukraine,” while days earlier, she warned that Moscow is preparing to “have the option of fabricating a pretext for invasion” by conducting “sabotage activities and information operations.”
Russia is also preparing to accuse Ukraine of “preparing an imminent attack” against Russian forces, Psaki claimed last week.
The White House spokeswoman also agreed that the pipeline provides Germany and the U.S. with some negotiating leverage.
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“Germany’s federal network agency has suspended the certification process of Nord Stream 2,” Psaki added. “Our view continues to be that stopping the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a credible piece we hold over Russia at this point in time.”
