If the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is completed, Ukraine would like to receive guarantees of its security, in particular, by withdrawing Russian troops from its territory, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
“If this issue is put the squeeze on, of course, for Ukraine, Nord Stream 2 is, first of all, a security issue. It is not necessary to simplify everything to 3 billion money for transit, although this is also a lot of money. We are the state that exists in a security vacuum, therefore we say: “you remove another lever of restraining the Russian Federation – then give an alternative, give a guarantee of security in one form or another.” And the withdrawal of Russian troops from Donbas, for example, de-occupation, is also a kind of security guarantee,” the minister said on the air of the Freedom of Speech program on ICTV on June 14.
He said that when Ukraine started this conversation, its partners were not ready for it.
“They saw Nord Stream 2 exclusively in economic terms and issues of some kind of economic compensation to Ukraine. But we talk to them very clearly, sincerely, and directly on this topic, and they begin to hear us,” Kuleba said.
Regarding the supply of German military technologies by Germany to Ukraine, the Foreign Minister said that Ukraine is working to ensure that the new German government, which will be elected in the fall, changes its position on this issue.
“This government will not change its position, but in the fall, following the results of the elections at the end of September, there will be a new government in Germany, and we are working to ensure that the new government changes its position on this issue,” he said.
