Arms shipments are too much
Russia’s ambassador: Germany has crossed the “red line”.
09/12/2022, 1:30 p.m
For a long time, German politicians shied away from delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine, but then sent self-propelled howitzers and multiple rocket launchers. For the Russian ambassador in Berlin, a “red line” has thus been crossed. Good relations with Russia have been destroyed.
The Russian ambassador in Berlin, Sergey Nechayev, has made serious allegations against Germany for supplying arms to defend Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression. “The mere delivery of lethal weapons to the Ukrainian regime, which are used not only against Russian soldiers but also against the civilian population in Donbass, is a “red line” that the German government (…) should not have crossed,” Nechayev said in an interview with the Russian daily Izvestia.
He referred to Germany’s “moral and historical responsibility for the crimes of Nazism in World War II”. In the course of the Ukraine crisis, the German government destroyed good bilateral relations with Russia and is undermining the reconciliation process between the peoples. According to Nechayev, Germany is one of the driving forces behind the West’s sanctions policy against Russia. The ambassador therefore denied Berlin a mediating role in the conflict.
On the other hand, the Federal Republic still seems to be suitable as a trading partner. Because against the background of the gas supply stop via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Nechayev offered to put the Nord Stream 2 pipeline into operation. The pipeline “is ready for use, filled with gas, meets the requirements and the technical checks have been carried out,” he said. The only thing missing is the political will of the federal government. Netchayev ruled out restarting Nord Stream 1 under the current conditions.
Russia is flirting with the opening of Nord Stream 2
Russia’s state-owned company Gazprom has now completely stopped the gas deliveries via Nord Stream 1, which were already severely restricted – with reference to technical problems that allegedly cannot be solved due to the sanctions. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin also brought the Nord Stream 2 pipeline into play as a replacement. In Berlin it is suspected that Moscow only put forward the failure of Nord Stream 1 in order to achieve its political goals – including the commissioning of Nord Stream 2 and relieving the pressure from sanctions.
The federal government put the approval process for Nord Stream 2 on hold in February shortly before the Russian attack on Ukraine. At the end of July, Russia cut back deliveries from Nord Stream 1, citing a defective turbine. At the same time, there is still a repaired turbine for Nord Stream 1 in Mülheim, which has been waiting for weeks to be transported to Russia. The last remaining turbine has a technical defect, oil is leaking, said Nechayev. Nechayev dismissed Siemens Energy’s statement that the oil leak was not critical as “unacceptable”. “Defective systems are not operated,” he said.