US has German assurances on NS2: press
A US congressional aide told the Reuters news service December 7 that Germany could intervene on behalf of Western interests on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline should tensions over Ukraine escalate.
Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine in 2014 after pro-Western protests in the capital, Kyiv. Western powers are now concerned that the Russian military build-up on the Ukrainian border is a sign of an imminent invasion of the former Soviet Republic.
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A congressional aide told the news service that the German government said Nord Stream 2 would be shut down in such an event, though “it was unclear if the two sides had agreed on a definition of invasion,” Reuters reported.
The original strings of Nord Stream were inaugurated in 2012. The network runs from Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany and, for all intents and purposes, the second leg is already completed.
Commercial gas flows, however, have yet to move through Nord Stream 2. US national security advisory Jake Sullivan told reporters this week that Washington had spoke with both former German chancellor Angela Merkel and her successor, Olaf Scholz, about the broader situation concerning Ukraine.
“The subject of the future of Nord Stream 2 in the context of an invasion of Ukraine by Russia in the coming weeks is a topic of utmost priority,” he said. “It has been discussed thoroughly.”