Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's statement regarding suspension of Nord Stream 2’s certification

We regard the German authorities’ decision to halt the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project unacceptable and unseemly from the point of view of international commercial law. We believe we are dealing with a classic precedent of a commercial project being used as a political weapon against us, which is a charge the collective West and, in particular, official Berlin are so fond of levelling at Moscow. The instruction to the German regulator was issued by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, which until recently referred to the project as a purely economic initiative of private investors. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself, who directly ordered the above actions, assured us earlier that the Nord Stream 2 certification process is of an exclusively regulatory nature and is in no way impacted by the political situation.

It is now becoming clear that the German authorities acted inconsistently and, once under pressure, succumbed to the temptation to use the project as a lever of pressure on Russia, thereby revealing their inability to separate the political from the economic. In fact, implementation of the project was held back first by the EU gas directive which was updated after the fact, and now by suspension of certification. So, the politically motivated wholesale ban on certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project imposed on February 22 is the logical climax of the above doctrine that puts politics above the economy. Meanwhile, Berlin made cynical use of an unseemly trick as it withdrew - again after the fact - the findings of the above ministry, released in October 2021 under the previous German government, which confirmed the absence of threats to Germany’s energy security from construction of this gas pipeline.

This makes it impossible to certify and, accordingly, to begin operating the pipeline.

In this regard, we would like to make clear that Berlin's decision to suspend the project will result in irreversible damage to Russian-German relations, which have been far from smooth in recent years through no fault of ours. Responsibility for the consequences of these illegitimate actions, which call into question the reputation of the FRG as a reliable foreign economic partner, lies entirely with the German side. As such, project investors have an inalienable right to seek compensation from official Berlin in international arbitration courts.

Against this background, our position on energy cooperation with the FRG and Europe in general remains unchanged. Russia never ceased emphasising that NS2 is a purely economic and commercial project, implemented in strict accordance with international law, EU regulations, and the legislation of the respective littoral states. The timely opening of this gas pipeline would meet the interests of both Russia and Europe. In addition to being mutually beneficial, the new pipeline route was supposed to diversify gas supply and stabilise the gas market in Europe. Clearly, this will not happen any time soon, since the project being held hostage and artificially tethered to other political stories. As we can see, turning down Nord Stream 2 will inevitably cause gas prices on the European market to spike.