Poland: Russia will use Nord Stream 2 as a political weapon
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is a political project and threatens the diversification of sources of the energy supply in the region, as stated by Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski during a session of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Reykjavik, the Polish Foreign Ministry reported.
“The Nord Stream 2 project creates a major risk to the diversification of gas supply sources in the region,” Waszczykowski said.
He added that in the area of regional energy security, solutions must be found which will be beneficial for everyone. As examples of such solutions, he mentioned the North-South Gas Corridor and the Baltic regional investment plan.
At the same time, in an interview for Wpolityce.pl, Waszczykowski emphasized that he does not understand Germany’s position, which regards Nord Stream 2 favorably, although it is “obviously political, and wants to bypass Central Europe in order to blackmail it in future”.
“Eventually the Russians will use the gas supply as a political weapon, which they don’t even hide. They will blackmail our part of Europe. We cannot agree to this,” the Polish diplomat emphasized.
He added that this problem is also constantly being discussed with the Americans.
“The Americans understand our arguments and the significance of the problem,” Waszczykowski concluded.
Nord Stream 2 is a project to construct a gas pipeline with an annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea. The route along the bottom of the sea and the point of entry to Germany’s gas transit system in Greifswald are expected to be the same as those of the first Nord Stream which was initiated in 2011.
Earlier in June, Polish ecologists called Nord Stream 2 a hazardous and unnecessary project.