Former Polish Foreign Minister Waszczykowski: Russia is using Nord Stream 2 to blackmail Europe
Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Former Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski accused Russia of blackmail through Nord Stream 2. He believes that Russia is using the gas pipeline in a geopolitical game to blackmail Europe. The politician expressed his opinion in an interview with El Confidential.
The former foreign minister is convinced that Nord Stream 2 should be seen as a political tool. Waszczykowski links it to security issues and the situation in Ukraine.
“This is one of Russia's most aggressive tools for dominating Eastern Europe,” Waszczykowski said.
Earlier, columnists for the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said that the dependence of European countries on Russian gas and oil would not allow them to impose sanctions against Moscow in the event of a crisis in relations with the United States. Observers recalled that Russia has been the main energy supplier for Europe since the Soviet era. The authors of the material are convinced that after the launch of Nord Stream 2, Europe will become even more dependent on Moscow.
1 comment
@Former Polish Foreign Minister Waszczykowski:>
It’s amazing to me that you guys over there in the Baltic, Poland and Ukraine think you have a card to play here. You don’t! Since the Ukrainian coup d’etat of 2014, Russia/Putin/Gazprom were always going to terminate nat-gas transit through Poland and Ukraine and no amount of US/EU/NATO pressure is ever going to change that. Offshore pipelines from Russia direct to its main client nations is economical, more secure and eliminates the need to deal with unfriendly and gas-thieving + unfriendly nations such as Poland and Ukraine respectively. If Germany/western Europe keeps this up, or escalates it by adding more [totally ineffective] sanctions that are hurting western Europe wa-a-a-ay more that Russia, then you are simply guaranteeing that the “Power of Siberia 2”/Asian pipeline markets will receive supply priority over EU market in the very near future. And that will be a future EU market that will still be in deep, deep need of nat-gas supplies. And contrary to propaganda, the US cannot now and will not be able to then, cover even half of the EU’s nat-gas shortfall, if that happens. DON’T SAY YOU COULD NOT ANTICIPATE SUCH A SCENARIO, OR HAD NO WARNING LATER!!!