The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) and the Association of Ukrainian Organizations in Germany (AUOG) addressed the Bundestag and the parliamentary groups of leading German democratic parties with an appeal to impose a moratorium on Gazprom’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project.
In particular, the UWC President Paul Grod and the AUOG Chairman Rostyslav Sukennyk welcomed the decision by Germany’s energy regulator, Bundesnetzagentur, to suspend the certification process for the controversial Russian gas pipeline and raised concern about the insidious role of Nord Stream 2 in fueling Russia’s aggressive policies targeting Europe.
They’ve also stressed that Nord Stream 2 is an integrated part of the Russian Federation’s hybrid aggression against the EU, the commissioning and certification of which will endanger Ukraine and will lead to a number of negative consequences for Germany and for the whole Europe, such as political and economic destabilization, a near monopoly by Russia’s Gazprom over German and other European gas markets and serious risks to the environment of the North European region and ecosystem of the Baltic Sea.
“Russia has a history of halting and restricting gas supplies to its neighbours, such as Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and to other parts of Europe to achieve political, economic and other objectives. Nord Stream 2 will enable Russia to stop using the Brotherhood pipeline through Ukraine, which will bring the Ukrainian people to their knees by turning off Ukraine’s primary supply of natural gas… Such energy starvation will force Ukraine back into Russia’s control,” reads the official letter.
Finally, the UWC and the AUOG urged Germany to secure firm commitments from Russia and Gazprom to ensure continued flow of gas through Ukraine, stop anti-competitive and coercive efforts to restrict gas supply to Ukraine and other European countries, and withdraw Russia’s troops from the borders of Ukraine.
The official UWC/AUOG letters were sent to the President of the Bundestag Ms. Bärbel Bas and to leaders of the Social Democrats, the Greens, Free Democratic Party and Christian Democrats parliamentary groups in the Bundestag.
Read UWC/AUOG letters in Ukrainian, English, and German.
