Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister is suspected of having run the Kremlin’s business. Schwesig denied wanting to use a state foundation to circumvent US sanctions. Internal documents show the opposite.
The judgment of a study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin was devastating. “The planned project for the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline is unnecessary in terms of energy, harmful to the environment and economically unprofitable.” The five scientists involved expected “high losses of up to billions of euros”. They also contradicted the supporters of the route in business and politics with regard to the alleged indispensability of the pipeline for Germany’s security of supply with natural gas. Their conclusion was: “not necessary”.
The Institute also addressed the political aspects in its study. It referred to both Russia’s continued attempts to “completely eliminate Ukraine” as a gas transit country and thereby further weaken its economy, as well as the EU and US’s stance to provide economic support to the threatened country in its efforts to retain its sovereignty .
Schwesig really wanted the project
The study was published in the summer of 2018, when Manuela Schwesig – until recently a fervent supporter of the pipeline – was already Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Like other warnings, the social democrat also ignored the DIW analysis – even more: In January 2021, she pushed through a state foundation that was allegedly dedicated to climate protection and was largely financed by Gazprom with 20 million euros. Nord Stream 2 is a subsidiary of the Russian energy group.
Environmentalists said about the foundation: “It actually serves the further construction of Nord Stream 2, a climate-damaging fossil mega-project.” Schwesig’s political opponents suspected that the SPD politician had made herself the Kremlin’s bailiff. Supported by ex-Chancellor and Gazprom lobbyist Gerhard Schröder, also a Social Democrat, the prime minister brushed aside all reproaches and concerns, ignored Ukrainian interests and stuck to her version of “energy policy necessity” because of the turn towards solar and wind power last. The pipeline must not become an investment ruin.
Massive pressure from Washington
The Gazprom project was under threat in late 2020 as the US announced it would fine companies and service providers involved. “Germany is totally controlled by Russia,” said former US President Donald Trump, referring to Nord Stream 2. Schwesig’s government set up the foundation in such a way that it would help circumvent American conditions against Russia. It would have procured material for the pipeline through an “economical overall operation” and had to accept sanctions for this, but no companies would have been affected. It was stated in the cabinet bill. “Due to the current sanctions legislation in the USA, an immediate establishment of a foundation is required.”
The federal government stayed out of the dispute. Schwesig’s party friend Heiko Maas, then Foreign Minister, said: “It’s a decision that was made in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It’s not a decision by the federal government.” That was taken as a distance to Schwesig. Maas was probably concerned with the trouble with the USA and not with the interests of Ukraine. He hopes for an amicable agreement with the Americans, said the SPD man. It is undisputed that Trump and the US Congress also had their own interests in mind – the sale of more expensive American liquid gas – in addition to Ukraine. Washington’s willingness to sanction any German company involved in the pipeline was of unprecedented severity. This is how the USA usually dealt with Iran, not with a partner country like Germany.
Gazprom writes, Schwerin does
Prime Minister Schwesig stuck to her course anyway and pushed through the foundation, the topic disappeared from the media. With Russia attacking Ukraine, it is now back in full force. And it’s getting tight for Schwesig, even a resignation seems possible after the “Welt am Sonntag” shed light on the mysterious “economic business” based in the Swiss tax haven of Zug. It looks very much as if Schwesig and her people let themselves be harnessed to the carts of Gazprom – and thus the Kremlin.
According to the newspaper, Putin’s confidant and ex-Stasi agent Matthias Warnig pulled the strings in the Gazprom subsidiary. According to Schwerin government documents, former energy minister and current interior minister Christian Schwach received instructions from Zug for the design of the foundation. A “Communications Manager Germany” from Nord Stream 2 emailed Schwerin on November 25, 2020: “We should try to position the foundation with a wink as a ‘smart answer’ to the hard-liner behavior of the USA.”
In fact, Schwesig liked to back up her commitment to the pipeline with anti-American messages and the insinuation that the US was only interested in selling its fracked gas. “We don’t avoid anything,” she told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” in mid-January 2021. The report of “Welt am Sonntag” conveys the opposite picture. According to the newspaper, the Schwerin state government had been informed of tricks under “Only for internal use – essence of the foundation” with which the US sanctions were to be circumvented, for example by Gazprom people “who are employed by the foundation for the completion of the pipeline, among other things “.
Opposition statements are not enough
In the meantime, Schwesig has announced the dissolution of the facility. “With today’s knowledge, sticking with Nord Stream 2 and setting up the Climate and Environment Foundation was a mistake. A mistake that I also made,” she said. And on the involvement of the Russians: “Of course there were also talks with Nord Stream.” Level, who is also a member of the SPD, said: “You don’t create a statute for a foundation without talking to those involved who are supposed to implement it afterwards and taking their needs into account.”
The opposition does not want to let Schwesig and her comrades-in-arms get away with the declarations, the FDP is demanding their resignation because a lot of trust has been destroyed. The Liberals, CDU and Greens want to shed light on the backgrounds from May in an investigative committee of the state parliament. Schwesig’s predecessor in office, Erwin Sellering, and ex-Chancellor Schröder, previously chairman of the Nord Stream Board of Directors, are planned as witnesses – all Social Democrats. Sellering is the head of the controversial foundation.
Sellering fights for secrecy
The prime minister is also under pressure outside of parliament. The transparency platform “Ask the State” is taking legal action against the foundation because it refuses to hand over documents. Before the district court, the most active won a victory. Sellering announced “immediate complaint” in a higher instance. “A foundation under private law cannot be treated like a GmbH or AG,” said the ex-prime minister of the “Schweriner Volkszeitung”.
The federal CDU wants to use Schwesig’s debacle to put pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Secretary-General Mario Czaja said: “Scholz urgently needs to clarify how much Manuela Schwesig has been or is still being used for Russia’s interests.” Czaja generously overlooks one circumstance: at the time the foundation was established, the CDU was governing with the SPD under Schwesig.