Germany will put an immediate halt to the certification of the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced, after Moscow recognized the two breakaway Donbass regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Scholz said the green light cannot be given for the pipeline to begin pumping supplies in the light of the current standoff between Russia and Ukraine.
“Given Russia’s latest action” the certification “cannot go ahead,” Scholz told reporters. “This is now about taking concrete steps relating to the situation that we have seen now.”
Just hours before, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called on Europe to suspend the gas pipeline “immediately” after Moscow signed a deal recognizing the two breakaway Donbass Republics in Donetsk and Lugansk.
Construction on the pipeline, which is intended to link the gas fields of Siberia to consumers in Western Europe via a port in Northern Germany, was completed last year. However, it has been waiting for approval from Berlin’s regulators to begin operations.