Baerbock issued the warning after the G7 meeting over tensions with Russia, which has gathered a huge force along the border with Ukraine.
Rising tensions, growing uncertainty about Russian gas supplies via Nord Stream 2 and rapidly declining European gas stocks, pushed the price of natural gas up by 10 percent on Monday. On Monday, the price was just above 116 euros per megawatt hour. A year ago it was less than 20 euros. The Dutch natural gas buffers fell by 5 percent to less than 48 percent last week.
Russia wants to pump gas directly to Germany via the 1,200 kilometer pipeline through the Baltic Sea, but for the time being the project is still on hold because the German regulator does not want to grant a permit due to a legal problem. The Russian state energy company has already invested billions in the construction of the pipeline that will supply Western Europe with gas.
Ukraine and Poland
Ukraine and Poland in particular object to the pipeline, because it allows Russia to bypass them as transit countries. This makes it easier for Russia to put pressure on them by turning off the gas tap, without customers in other European countries being bothered by this. The United States also had strong reservations about the Russian pipeline from the start, because, according to Washington, it would make European countries too dependent on Russia.
Baerbock’s party, the Greens, has always been critical of Nord Stream 2. New German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is more positive about the gas pipeline. According to him, it is a purely commercial project and dependence on Russian gas will decrease as Germany is busy developing renewable energy sources.
But Scholz will also come under heavy pressure to put the project on hold if Russia launches an offensive against Ukraine. He previously warned Moscow that violating Ukraine’s borders would have serious consequences for Russia. “We won’t accept that,” he said.
‘Serious consequences’
The G7 foreign ministers warned Russia over the weekend that it will pay a heavy price if it decides to invade Ukraine. According to the G7, this will have “serious consequences” for Russia.
Moscow has gathered 175,000 troops and a huge amount of tanks, armored personnel carriers and other equipment for a possible attack on Ukraine, according to US intelligence services. The Kremlin denies having any plans for an invasion, but President Putin has reignited tension by saying that the Russian population in eastern Ukraine is the victim of ‘genocide’.
President Putin has established himself as the patron of ethnic Russians in the former Soviet republics. In addition, he sees Ukraine as an artificial construction, inspired by the West. According to him, Ukrainians and Russians have traditionally been one nation.
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