Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, the Baltic countries and Eastern Europe will continue to be exacerbated with the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The Ukrainian World Congress calls upon Germany, the United States, and the international community to take all necessary measures to immediately terminate Russia’s pipeline project, which is nearing completion.
Nord Stream 2 will circumvent and make redundant a critical gas pipeline between Russia and Western Europe that transits through and is the source of gas supply for Ukraine and many Eastern European countries. Russia will be able to effortlessly cripple Ukraine, Belarus, and other Eastern European countries by literally turning off the gas. They have a history of doing so. In the past, however, reducing gas flows to force Ukraine to make political concessions, has also impacted western Europe. That will no longer be the case.
Many analysts have observed that Russia’s military activities in eastern Ukraine have steered clear of the Brotherhood gas pipeline. With Nord Stream 2, the risk of damaging or destroying this gas pipeline will no longer be an issue. Natural gas flows will be another lever to force Ukraine into economic and political submission without impacting its lucrative financial and political relationships with Germany, France, and the rest of western Europe.
Russia’s occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine, its recent military training for an invasion into Ukraine, and ongoing military conflict in the Donbas region demonstrate its true intention of occupying and controlling Ukraine. Nord Stream 2 will remove a very important barrier to a full-out Russian invasion of Ukraine. If Russia’s invasion of Crimea and Ukraine in 2014 has taught the world anything, it is that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will stop at nothing to retain his grip on power and rebuild the Soviet Union.
The completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is a serious threat to peace and security in Europe. War in Ukraine and Eastern Europe will draw in all the Euro-Atlantic countries. Russia’s continued intimidation, deceit, and disregard for international law demonstrate that its leadership cannot be trusted and must be contained. We call upon the international community to unite and block Nord Stream 2.
Otherwise, the European continent will be held hostage by Moscow.
Paul Grod is president of the Ukrainian World Congress.
