Nord Stream 2: Scholz tightens the tone towards Putin - and walks on thin ice

Created: 01/19/2022, 12:29 p.m

By: Stephanie Munk

Olaf Scholz has so far avoided shaking Nord Stream 2 - one of the few means of pressure that the West has in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Now Scholz changed the tone towards Putin.

Berlin/Moscow – No topic is currently as hot as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

There are fears of a new war in Europe if Russian President Vladimir Putin carries out his threats and launches a military attack on Ukraine.

He has already posted Russian troops on the Ukrainian border.

The West wants to protect Ukraine and bring Russia back to the negotiating table. To this end, Baerbock traveled to Moscow on Tuesday and had a rather chilly meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. But Chancellor Olaf Scholz* of all people has only put mild pressure on Putin in the last few days. What could put Russia under the most pressure - a departure from the Nord Stream 2 project - has so far not been wanted by the Chancellor*. What's more, he viewed the gas pipeline as a purely private-sector project whose approval process was apolitical. With the controversial pipeline, Russia wants to route gas through the Baltic Sea instead of overland through Ukraine. In this way, Vladimir Putin* would no longer have to take his smaller neighbors as a transit country into account.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz changes the tone towards Russia.

© Hannibal Hanschke/dpa

Olaf Scholz on Nord Stream 2: Chancellor threatens Putin indirectly

On Tuesday evening, Olaf Scholz changed his pitch after some criticism* of his hesitant attitude.

According to a

report, after his meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Scholz was asked whether he still considered Nord Stream 2 to be a purely private-sector project.

In December, he simply replied, "Yes."

This time, Scholz reminded that Nord Stream 2 has always been subject to political conditions.

His predecessor Angela Merkel once agreed with US President Joe Biden that the pipeline through the Baltic Sea would only be built if Ukraine remained a transit country for Russian gas to Western Europe.

When asked by another journalist about the gas pipeline, the Chancellor replied, according to

: "Indeed, it is important that we put our energy supply on a new footing." This applies to coal, oil and gas.

Until then, attention should be paid to "the best possible, diversified energy supply from Scandinavia, Norway, the Netherlands, the North Sea and the European gas market".

Russia is not included in this list.

This can be seen as a clear political signal to Putin: Scholz wants to make Germany independent of Russian gas in the long term.

Olaf Scholz is treading on thin ice when it comes to Putin

However, this hidden threat will not be easy to implement: Russia supplies more than half of Germany's gas, electricity prices are rising and rising - in this situation, an attempt to become less dependent on Russia's supplies is likely to be a risky and expensive undertaking.

In the past, Putin has tried several times to put pressure on Germany by cutting back on its gas supplies*.