Nord Stream 2: Steinmeier rejects criticism from Ukraine

With statements about the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, Federal President Steinmeier caused great resentment in Ukraine. However, the criticism at Bellevue Palace is met with complete incomprehension.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has caused irritation in Ukraine with statements about the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The Ukrainian ambassador Andrij Melnyk wrote in a statement in Berlin that Steinmeier's questionable historical arguments were received with astonishment and indignation" in Kiev . The office of the Federal President reacted irritably to the criticism: The accusation is met with a complete lack of understanding in the Office of the Federal President. The text of the interview speaks for itself.

Steinmeier defended Nord Stream 2 in an interview with the Rheinische Post with the argument that energy relations were almost the last remaining bridge between Russia and Europe. He pointed out that Germany also had to keep an eye on the historical dimension and recalled the German attack on the Soviet Union , which took place on June 22nd for the 80th time. More than 20 million people in the former Soviet Union fell victim to the war. That does not justify any misconduct in Russian politics today, but we must not lose sight of the bigger picture, said Steinmeier.

The statements made by Federal President Steinmeier struck us Ukrainians deeply Melnyk wrote. Nord Stream 2 remains a geopolitical project by Russian President Vladimir Putin that runs counter to Ukrainian interests. "It is therefore cynical to bring the horrors of the Nazi reign of terror into play in this particular debate and to attribute the millions of Soviet victims of the German war of extermination and enslavement exclusively to Russia.

Melnyk accuses the Federal President of not having explicitly mentioned the many millions of victims of the Nazi dictatorship in Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union. That is "a dangerous twist of history.

Historians estimate the number of victims on the territory of the former Soviet Union at around 27 million. As a percentage of its total population, Ukraine had the highest population losses after Belarus (Belarus). According to Ukrainian information, between eight and ten million former residents of what is now Ukrainian territory were killed between 1939 and 1945.

The Ukraine ranks alongside the United States, the Baltic States and Poland, the most vocal critics of the almost ready-built pipeline Nord Stream 2 , by the future every year 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Germany are to be conveyed. Ukraine is currently still benefiting from Russian gas supplies to Europe by collecting transit fees from Moscow . In the next few years, however, Russia wants to reduce the volume and instead deliver more gas directly to the EU through the Baltic Sea .