UK urges allies to block Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

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UK urges allies to block Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

Britain s foreign secretary has joined a last minute move to urge Nato allies to block the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, warning that Moscow would exploit its position if Europe nations became dependent on it for energy.

At her first foreign ministers meeting in Riga, Liz Truss warned that Russia would be making a strategic mistake if it invaded Ukraine, promising an economic and diplomatic response by Nato.

The UK has been at the forefront of Nato countries, along with Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states, to question the wisdom of the pipeline, which will take gas from Russia to Europe through the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine and depriving Kyiv of energy transit fees.

In a sign of her determination to challenge Russia, Truss was also pictured in a tank with British troops in Estonia in pictures reminiscent of her role model, Margaret Thatcher.

It remains to be seen how far the UK can push its opposition to Nord Stream 2 but the prime minister, Boris Johnson, raised the issue's profile in a foreign policy speech at the Guildhall this month, saying: We hope that our friends will recognize that a choice is soon coming between mainlining Russian hydrocarbons in giant new pipelines, and sticking up for Ukraine and championing the cause of peace and stability. In a Sunday Telegraph article, Truss wrote that Nord Stream 2 risks undermining European security by allowing Russia to tighten its grip on nations that depend on it for gas. Yuri Vitrenko, head of Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz, praised Johnson's remarks as timely and helpful. He added: Britain is an important ally. Boris Johnson doesn't look like he is afraid to confront Putin and he is calling things by their names. He pointed out that the UK could not be decisive since the outcome could depend on EU energy law.

Vitrenko believes that the Russian pipeline through Ukraine was an important deterrent to a full-scale war since the revenues of Russia won't be affected, European consumers won't have to worry about Russian policy or military aggression because of the fact that the current Russian pipeline will not change Russia's policy or military aggression. The long running economic and political battle against the 1,200 mile pipeline was largely lost because the Biden administration, in a compromise with Germany in May, dropped sanctions against the $10 billion pipeline. Germany agreed to provide Ukraine with a subsidy to transition to green energy.

But British ministers intent on backing Ukraine do not think the battle to contain Nord Stream one is lost in the EU. According to paragraph two of the German-US statement of June, Germany will take action at the national level and press for effective measures at the European level, including sanctions to limit Russian export capabilities to Europe in the energy sector, including gas, and other economically relevant sectors, should Russia attempt to use energy as a weapon or commit further aggressive acts against Ukraine. The UK claims Russia has been endangering European allies by restricting gas supplies in the way that the agreement tried to rule out, a view shared by many US Republican senators who are blocking the defence budget to block Nord Stream.

Britain is testing the water to see how the new German coalition will handle Nord Stream 2, noting that the coalition agreement was silent on the issue. British officials believe that the new government is much tougher about defending Ukraine and Russian human rights abuses.

There isn't a commitment to this in the coalition agreement. The certification of the pipeline was temporarily suspended by Germany s energy regulators on 16 November on the technical grounds that its owners Russia s Gazprom created a German subsidiary for the German branch of the pipeline that did not meet the requirements of domestic law.