According to the Associated Press, after Russian President Putin announced the recognition of Luhansk and Donetsk as two "independent countries", German Prime Minister Scholz reacted at the first time, announcing the suspension of the approval of the Russian-German "Nord Stream-2" natural gas transportation pipeline project. Subsequently, the outside world speculated that this was to abandon Nord Stream 2. It is reported that the "Nord Stream-2" natural gas transportation pipeline project is an energy project built by Gazprom and five European energy transport companies, with a total investment of about 9.5 billion euros.
Construction began in the second half of 2018 and was largely completed at the end of last year after more than three years of construction. According to the plan, the "Nord Stream-2" natural gas transportation pipeline project can transport 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Germany and other European countries, which will effectively solve the tight natural gas supply and the substantive problem of excessive natural gas prices in European countries, and both Russia and Europe can benefit from it.
However, since the start of construction, the "Nord Stream-2" natural gas transportation pipeline project has been full of ups and downs, and has encountered sanctions from the United States and other Western countries several times. Had it not been for the full support of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the project might have been stillborn. As an energy cooperation project, the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline has now evolved into a political tool, with Western countries, led by the United States, threatening to use it to sanction Russia.
Now that the Russian-Ukrainian crisis has developed into a war, the relationship between Russia and NATO has deteriorated to the extreme, and Germany, as a member of NATO, has suspended the approval of the "Nord Stream-2" natural gas transportation pipeline project, which has long been expected by the outside world. The suspension of approval for the project means that although the Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline has been laid, it cannot be put into commercial operation. A large project costing nearly 10 billion euros can only be a decoration today.
However, the German media "Business Daily" recently exposed that although Scholz announced the suspension of approval of the "Nord Stream-2" natural gas transportation pipeline project, the project still has the possibility of actual use. As long as the nord stream-2 gas pipeline project operator pays a fine of 1 million euros to the German network regulator, the project can be used. 1 million euros is not worth mentioning in the face of the project's nearly 10 billion euros in construction and huge commercial value. Obviously, this leaves a huge backdoor for Russia.
The Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project has been frozen, and Europe will face an even more serious energy crisis. Europe has long been very dependent on Russia's natural gas. According to statistics, nearly 40% of the natural gas imported by Europe currently comes from Russia. After the outbreak of military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the price of natural gas in Europe has continued to soar, and has now climbed to $1560 per thousand cubic meters.
Analysts said that the implementation of a number of sanctions by European countries against Russia, including the suspension of approval of the "Nord Stream-2" natural gas pipeline project, is "killing eight hundred enemies and losing one thousand", and Russia's biggest threat to European countries may not come from weapons and equipment, but from energy supply. This can be seen from the EU's sanctions scheme against Russia and the series of reactions before the sanctions.
It is reported that the sanctions imposed on Russia by European countries are mainly concentrated on individuals, and even if there are entities that are sanctioned, they also avoid entities involved in the trade of Russian commodities, such as the Russian Federal Savings Bank, the Russian Foreign Trade Bank and the Russian Gas Industry Bank. Notably, after Putin announced his recognition of donbass independence, the United States bought a total of 3.5 million barrels of crude oil and refined products from Russia in 24 hours, worth $350 million at current prices.
Is the U.S. buying oil and gas from Russia for its own use? Apparently not. Now that the United States has achieved oil and gas self-sufficiency, there is no need to purchase Russian oil and gas. Industry insiders said that the US move is actually to play the role of "two-way peddler". After Russia is sanctioned, the price of oil and gas in Europe is bound to rise, and the United States can take this opportunity to sell the oil and gas purchased from Russia to European countries at a high price and make a lot of money.
As Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova said, the United States created tensions in the Russian-Ukrainian border region in order to prevent the Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline project from being put into commercial operation, so as to seize the European gas market share. According to monitoring, after the "Nord Stream-2" natural gas pipeline project was frozen, the United States increased its natural gas supply to European countries.
But compared to Russian gas, the price of natural gas in the United States is higher, after all, the cost of transportation is there. German Deputy Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that even without Russian gas, Germany's gas use has little impact, but behind its hard mouth is the higher cost of gas borne by German residents.
European Commission President von der Leyen admits that European countries are too dependent on Russian gas and will seek to diversify their gas supply in the future. But once the supply chain is established, it faces various challenges to find alternatives in a short period of time.