US President warns Germany against Nord Stream 2
PR dla Zagranicy
Julian Horodyski
13.06.2019 16:00
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned Germany against the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project which is opposed by Poland, state news agency PAP reported.
US President Donald Trump. Photo: EPA/ZACH GIBSON
Trump spoke out on the Russian pipeline project at an appearance with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda at the White House.
Nord Stream 2 “really makes Germany a hostage of Russia if things ever happen that were bad,” the US president was cited as saying by the Reuters news agency.
“We’re protecting Germany from Russia and Russia is getting billions and billions of dollars from Germany,” Trump added.
The controversial 1,200-kilometre pipeline is expected to have the capacity to send around 55 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas a year directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea, while bypassing the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine.
Warsaw and Washington have both strongly criticised the project amid concerns that the pipeline will make the European Union more dependent on Russian gas.
US Vice President Mike Pence warned earlier this year that America “cannot ensure the defence of the West” if its allies grow dependent on Moscow as a result of projects such as Nord Stream 2.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last May that Nord Stream 2 was “a new hybrid weapon” aimed at the European Union and NATO.
(jh/pk)
Source: PAP, Reuters