Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko, who lobbied hard for sanctioning the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the United States, Germany and the European Union made the following statement on Feb. 22:
“We welcome the decision of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action to withdraw the official assessment that Nord Stream 2 has no impact on security of gas supply in Germany. We hope that the Federal Ministry will submit a new conclusion, which will clearly state that Nord Stream 2 poses a threat to such security. This will be the basis for the regulator to reject certification for this gas pipeline. Naftogaz provided the relevant arguments to the German government.
This demonstrates that Germany stands in solidarity with Ukraine, in particular, supporting our position on Nord Stream 2, which we have been communicating to the new government in recent months. The last time we did this was a few days ago during the Munich Security Conference in the context of the looming escalation of Russian military aggression. Putin’s revisionist imperial policy poses a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the whole world. Nord Stream 2 is one of the elements of this policy and therefore requires an adequate response.”
