Will Putin win?

The upcoming completion of Nord Stream 2 will strengthen Russia

Hans Jürgen Witthöft

The discussions surrounding the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline have now taken on dimensions that have absolutely nothing to do with its officially communicated objective.

Nord Stream 2 is a pipeline that runs parallel to the Nord Stream pipeline, which went into operation in 2011, from Vyborg in Russia under the Baltic Sea to Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Both pipelines are designed for throughputs of 55 billion cubic metres each. Nord Stream 1 was politically controversial from the outset. The reason for this was that it was seen as a "deal" between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who had secured himself an "extra income" as a Russian gas lobbyist following his chancellorship. This insipid impression became entrenched in connection with Nord Stream 2 and continued to dominate all further discussions.