Kuleba: Berlin’s position on Nord Stream 2 may change after elections

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba admits that Germany may change its position on Nord Stream 2 project after the elections in the country.

“In fact, there are many voices against North Stream 2 in Germany and Berlin’s position may change after their upcoming elections. Neither has the US given up on sanctions completely, saying it is rather a break,” Kuleba said in an interview with CEENERGYNEWS, Ukrinform reports.

The minister underscored that the struggle to preserve Ukraine’s national interests and European security would continue.

“Our main expectation is to convince our German and U.S. partners to take the existing threat seriously. This is what Ukrainian diplomacy is currently working on,” Kuleba noted.

The Ukrainian minister stressed that there was no market need for the project, but there were clear political goals for Russia: depreciate Ukraine’s role in European gas transit and weaken Ukraine in its resolve to Russian aggression.

He forecasted that the next few years were set to be quite challenging for the gas transit system of Ukraine.

“The current transit agreement with Gazprom provides for the reservation of Ukrainian GTS capacity until the end of 2024. Russia has tried for many years – and failed – to discredit Ukraine as a reliable gas transit partner. Now it tries to bypass Ukraine,” Kuleba added.

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