Germany Considering Nationalizing Part of Nord Stream 2 Pipeline, Reports Suggest

BERLIN (Sputnik) - The German Finance Ministry may nationalize a part of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that is laid on the country’s territory, Spiegel reported on Friday, citing sources.

The government is mulling whether the part of the pipeline could be expropriated, cut off from the rest of Nord Stream 2 and connected to a mobile LNG terminal, according to Spiegel.

Later in the day, the German economy ministry refused to comment on this information.

"I can't comment on this, neither confirm nor deny," a spokeswoman for the ministry told a briefing in Berlin.

Gas stove

© Flickr / sunshinecity

Nord Stream 2 is a gas pipeline project with a capacity to carry 55 billion cubic meters per year, enabling gas transit from Russia across the Baltic Sea to Germany. Both the United States and Ukraine have strongly objected to the project. Moscow urged Western countries to stop politicizing the launch of Nord Stream 2, arguing that it is a commercial project beneficial to both Russia and the European Union.

On 24 February, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. In response, the West rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow, in line with which Germany ceased the certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, forcing the Swiss-based pipeline operator company Nord Stream 2 AG to file for bankruptcy.