Latest news with #NordStream2
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Germany considers law reform to block Russian-owned Nord Stream takeover
BERLIN, June 27 (Reuters) - Germany is considering changing its foreign trade law to prevent the company running the Nord Stream 2 pipelines from being taken over, a document showed on Friday, as part of Berlin's efforts to prevent any resumption of Russian gas imports. For decades Germany relied on cheap Russian gas, but since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, it has sought alternatives. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said he will ensure Nord Stream 2, which the country once backed, would not go into operation, but for now the country has no legal means to prevent a sale of the assets, owned by Russian giant Gazprom ( opens new tab. The Nord Stream pipeline system comprises two double pipelines across the Baltic Sea to Germany and was the biggest route for Russian gas to enter Europe, capable of delivering 110 billion cubic metres of gas a year. The second link Nord Stream 2 was completed in 2021. It never became operational due to deteriorating relations between Russia and the West and was hit by unexplained explosions in 2022 that left one of its two lines intact. Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 has been going through insolvency procedures that could lead to asset sales. In November, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. investor Stephen P. Lynch was attempting to acquire Nord Stream 2, a report the Russian government denied. In a parliamentary response dated June 24, the German Economy Ministry said the government was discussing a possible amendment during this legislative period to the foreign trade law as it does not currently provide for any investment review in the event of a takeover. Der Spiegel magazine first reported the news. Former economy ministry state secretary and Green lawmaker Michael Kellner said the government must close this loophole. "Pipelines in Germany or Europe do not belong in the hands of Russian or American companies," he told Reuters. Gazprom did not reply to a request for comment.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Germany Considers Tighter Investment Rules Amid Nord Stream 2 Rumors
The German government is examining measures that could help it stop a potential sale of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline after speculation emerged earlier this year over reviving pipeline gas deliveries from Russia. Berlin is considering amending the legal basis for investment screening, the economy ministry said in response to a parliamentary inquiry from Green party lawmakers including Michael Kellner, which was first reported by Der Spiegel magazine on Friday.
New York Post
19-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Ted Cruz baffled by Tucker Carlson's ‘weird' Russia obsession as right-wing pundit demands Texas Sen. apologize for Ukraine war
Ted Cruz was baffled by Tucker Carlson's 'weird' Russia obsession during a testy debate between the duo this week, with the right-wing pundit even demanding that the Texas senator apologize for the war in Ukraine. Carlson characterized the Kremlin's unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine as 'the war against Russia,' and faulted Cruz (R-Texas) for fomenting opposition against Moscow. 'We were unable to beat Russia in the war that you supported against Russia!' Carlson exclaimed during a tense exchange that dropped Wednesday in which the former Fox News host accused Cruz of presiding over foreign policy failures. 'You've been spending the last three years telling us that [Russian leader] Vladimir Putin is evil and we're gonna beat him with other people's children,' Carlson continued. 'And a million of those kids are now dead! You've never apologized for that. That was a full failure!' 'All these failures, and no one ever says I'm sorry!' he later groused. 3 Tucker Carlson suggested that Ted Cruz bears responsibility for the Russia-Ukraine war. The Tucker Carlson Show Taken aback, Cruz blamed former President Joe Biden's 'weakness' for enabling the war. Carlson countered that Biden's 'aggression' caused the bloody war and pointed to former Vice President Kamala Harris' visit to the Munich Security Conference in February 2022 as evidence. Putin had been mobilizing his forces along the border with Ukraine for months before the invasion took place. Cruz harked back to a sanctions package against Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was shot down by the Senate before the war, which he argued may have prevented it. He also cited the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan as a key factor in Putin's decision to invade Ukraine. 'I gotta say, I don't understand, for some reason, you are really invested in defending Russia. I don't get that. I'm not attacking you,' Cruz vented at one point, stressing that he was 'genuinely' bewildered why Carlson is 'so passionate' about that. 3 Sen. Ted Cruz seemed perplexed about Tucker Carlson's position on Russia. The Tucker Carlson Show Carlson later shot back that 'I don't want to be at war with Russia' and warned of the dangers of Moscow and Beijing growing closer. The former primetime Fox News anchor also argued that 'Russia is stronger' now despite the onslaught of sanctions imposed against Moscow and claimed that the West has grown weak. 'Western Europe is weaker and more in debt. The United States is weaker and much more in debt,' Carslon contended, insinuating that the US needs to prioritize domestic plights rather than overseas wars. At one point, Cruz acknowledged that while he voted against the first major tranche of military aid to war-torn Ukraine, he voted against subsequent ones after concluding the efforts to support Kyiv weren't working. 'It hasn't worked. So I've been in between. I haven't been on the full Ukraine, full-throated hawk side or the anti- [Ukraine side] from day one,' the Texas senator said. 3 Russian leader Vladimir Putin gave an interview to Tucker Carlson last year. via REUTERS The bulk of Carlson's explosive interview with Cruz centered around the Israel-Iran conflict and philosophical differences on foreign policy intervention. Cruz dubbed himself an 'isolationist hawk' who wants a middle ground between hawks and doves. Lawmakers in the Senate are currently mulling bipartisan legislation to significantly ramp up sanctions on Russia.
Reuters
19-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Russia's Novak says no one has approached government about buying Nord Stream 2
ST PETERSBURG, June 19 (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that no one has approached the Russian government about buying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The Wall Street Journal reported in November that an American investor, Stephen P. Lynch, was seeking to buy the pipeline under the Baltic Sea, which was damaged by mysterious blasts in 2022. The $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline, set to carry Russian gas to Europe, was completed in 2021 but was never commissioned as relations with the West soured due to the onset of the conflict in Ukraine.
Telegraph
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
We must listen to the Baltic States. The Russian hybrid threat is growing
During his visit to London last week, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte issued this dire warning about the threat of Russian aggression: 'Russia could be ready to use military force against Nato within five years. Let's not kid ourselves, we are all on the Eastern flank now.' Rutte warned that Russia produces more ammunition in three months than Nato manufactures in a year and spotlit Chinese technology's critical role in reconstituting Russia's military arsenal. Rutte's stark warning aimed to snap European countries out of their state of complacency but received a mixed reception on the continent. As Russia helplessly watched the destruction of some of its most-prized strategic bombers and struggles to gain a decisive offensive advantage in eastern Ukraine, Rutte's framing seemed hyperbolic to many in Western Europe. For the Baltic States, however, Rutte's rhetoric was not nearly strident enough. Due to his past support for the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline and sluggish approach to increasing defence spending as Dutch Prime Minister, Rutte was already an unpopular figure in the Baltic States. Rutte's latest comments reawakened those critiques as they depicted Russia as a long-term danger rather than an urgent threat to Nato's security. The Baltic States have compelling reasons to be frustrated with Rutte's incrementalism. By illegally transiting its shadow fleet of oil tankers through the Baltic Sea, weaponising migration across land borders and carrying out disruptive cyberattacks, Russia has demonstrated that it is on a war footing with the Baltic States. By dismissing these aggressive actions as mere hybrid threats, Nato risks trivialising an existential threat to the cogency of its alliance. The mood of frustration in the Baltic States is especially pronounced because of the long build-up to Russia's current escalations against them. When I spoke to senior Estonian officials last month, they argued that Russia never truly viewed the Baltic States as sovereign after they restored their independence in 1991. As Estonia pushed for Nato membership during the 1990s, Russian ultranationalists began issuing apocalyptic threats. After earning a plurality of votes in the 1993 legislative elections, LDPR leader and ultranationalist firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovsky warned Estonians to flee to Sweden on fishing boats and threatened to deport the Estonians who stayed home to Siberia. But instead of being recognised for presciently warning about the Russian threat, the Baltic States were all-too-often accused of crying wolf. Even after Russia displayed its true hand by illegally annexing Crimea in 2014 and launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Baltic States still struggled to get their message heard. In response to tightening sanctions against Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko warned in May 2021 that he would allow drugs and migrants to flood into European Union (EU) territory. Lukashenko's threats came to pass as illegal migrants overwhelmed Latvia and Lithuania's border defences in the autumn of 2021. Despite the scale of this threat, the EU refused to finance the construction of a border wall on Lithuania's frontiers. In response to the unresponsiveness of key Nato countries to their concerns, the Baltic States have taken matters into their own hands. From announcing 5 per cent of GDP defence spending targets to Lithuania's investment of $1.2 billion in border security with Belarus and Russia, three of Nato's smallest member states are setting a positive example for the rest of the alliance. These states are also trying to steer Nato towards committing to a firmer response to security threats that fall below the threshold of conventional war. Their argument is that Russia's hybrid threats are steps on an escalation ladder that could lead to full-scale war. Lithuanian officials justified this contention by arguing that shadow-fleet ships could escalate from cutting undersea cables to destroying liquefied natural gas terminals and use disruptive GPS jamming to down civilian aeroplanes. Based on its track record, Russia would maintain a level of deniability around these aggressive actions and any Baltic retaliation could lead to an invasion. As Nato's Article 5 security guarantees do not clearly extend to hybrid threats, former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves and former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis recently called for the creation of a new permanent discussion forum on hybrid threats and the potential construction of a Baltic regional security organisation with robust military capabilities. In the European Parliament and Nato gatherings, Baltic officials are calling for European countries to re-evaluate their risk aversion in confronting Russian aggression head-on and to more thoroughly sanction the financial infrastructure that supports the shadow fleet. The efficacy of Ukraine's cross-border operations and the limitations of Russia's retaliatory capacity has caused some Baltic officials to view an exclusive focus on deterrence as obsolete. Ahead of the Nato summit in the Hague later this month, there will be a major focus on Ukraine's future within the organisation. Time should also be devoted to addressing the concerns of the Nato alliance's three most vulnerable and committed participants.
