Naftogaz of Ukraine: Stopping Nord Stream 2 is a matter of life and death
The commissioning of Nord Stream 2 poses a mortal danger to Ukraine - as soon as Moscow gets rid of the need to pump gas to Europe through Ukrainian territory, nothing will stop the Kremlin from defeating the regime that seized power in Kyiv.
The head of the board of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, Andrey Kobolev, wrote such concerns on his Facebook page, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Kobolev insists that Nord Stream 2 is a political project, and not an economic one, as the Russian leadership insists.
“I beg to differ with Mr. Putin. Nord Stream 2 is, first of all, a tool to make Ukraine defenseless against Russian military aggression. Therefore, for him, this economically senseless project has a very tangible geopolitical meaning.
While Ukraine is an important transit country for gas to Germany, Italy and France, the Ukrainian gas transportation system is part of our defense system. As soon as the Kremlin has the physical opportunity to redirect gas flows bypassing Ukraine, our GTS will become simply a network of gas pipelines. Then our country will become much more vulnerable to Russian aggression.
That is why stopping Nord Stream 2 is, without exaggeration, a matter of life or death for our citizens. No, Ukraine will not be able to “live with this” and do without victims,” Kobolev laments.
As a reminder, Russian President Vladimir Putin previously stated that the West's attempts to stop the construction of Nord Stream 2 were motivated by a desire to force Russia to pay for the geopolitical "Ukraine" project.
Naftogaz of Ukraine : Stopping Nord Stream 2 is a matter of life and death