ANALYSIS - US Aims To Create Coalition To Undermine Nord Stream 2 Amid Navalny Situation

BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2020) As the Russian government stands accused of poisoning opposition figure Alexey Navalny, politicians from various countries, including the United States, have proposed to suspend the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a way of punishing Moscow for alleged transgression.

The Nord Stream 2 project aims to lay a 745-mile-long twin pipeline that will carry up to 1.942 trillion cubic feet of gas per year from Russia to Germany, passing through the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia, and Sweden.

In late August, Navalny suffered a dire health situation and went into a coma during a domestic Russian flight. He is currently receiving treatment at the Charite clinic in Berlin. Germany claimed that the 44-year-old opposition activist had been intoxicated with a nerve agent of the Novichok group. As Navalny rose to notoriety through his criticism of the current Russian authorities, speculations of an alleged Kremlin involvement sprang up almost immediately.

On Monday, US State Secretary Mike Pompeo told Germany's Bild newspaper that Washington was building a coalition to prevent the project from being completed, citing the Navalny situation as a possible motivation for Berlin, the pipeline's main supporter in Europe, to come on board.

This is another step in the ongoing campaign by the United States to undermine the pipeline construction. Nevertheless, just like all previous attempts, the renewed charge by US President Donald Trump administration is likely to come out empty.

In light of the Navalny incident, many German politicians spoke in favor of using the project's putative suspension as a cudgel to threaten. At the same time, some are not comfortable in bringing the pipeline into a separate matter. Thus, Germany's political world is in the process of making up its mind on how to proceed.

"The unresolved issue of Navalny should not be used to jeopardize our security of supply. Both are processes to be considered separately from one another. So far, no evidence whatsoever has been provided that Moscow was behind the alleged poisoning of Navalny. That is a possibility, as well as other occurrences. Anyone who accuses others of a lack of the rule of law should not make hasty judgments without trial and without clear evidence," Jorg Meuthen, a member of the European Parliament from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party, told Sputnik.

This sentiment is echoed by his fellow AfD colleague Maximilian Krah,

"We cannot afford to give up our interests just to please the US. Our relationship with Russia is tense. Nord Stream 2 is a great opportunity to improve ... Pompeo's threats of sanctions are unacceptable and contrary to international law. That's not how you treat partners. President Trump was elected to finally end the US imperial posturing as we knew it from his predecessors. Pompeo threatens to worsen this situation," Krah said to Sputnik.

While the US authorities often cite political reasons for Europe to jettison the pipeline, some are saying that they are driven by more mundane and mercantile concerns, such as the struggle to corner the gas market on the continent.

"The US is a big producer of gas and today, given the abundance of gas on the world market and the many recent discoveries, producers are struggling to sell their gas," Samuele Furfari, a professor of energy geopolitics at the Free University of Brussels.

The professor expressed confidence that the project would be completed in several months at most since the coalition touted by Pompeo would fail to materialize.

"There is also the distrust towards Russia in the Baltic states, but apart from that, with whom is the US going to form a coalition? With other producers of LNG in the middle East? With the countries of the East Mediterranean who hope to produce gas soon, from Turkey to Greece, to Cyprus? There is a lot of gas on the market and gas producers compete for delivering the product. Nobody would be interested in creating problems to the main user of gas in the region, the EU," Furfari added.

Whether or not this latest instance of US pressure manages to have any substantial outcome, Washington is unlikely to let up until the project is either abandoned or finally completed.