Russian president Vladimir Putin has always enjoyed trolling European leaders. As relations between Moscow and Berlin deteriorate over reduced natural gas supplies and Ukraine-related sanctions, Putin is now brazenly gaslighting his German counterpart, chancellor Olaf Scholz. But it’s a move he could come to regret.
Putin suggested this week that Germany should give the shelved Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline the go ahead to restore gas flows to normal levels. The amount of Russian gas flowing into Germany along the operational Nord Stream 1 pipeline under the Baltic Sea is capped at 67 million cubic metres per day (MMcm/d), or about 40 per cent of its technical capacity. Russia claims this is due to a technical fault that could not be fixed under sanctions. Few take this excuse at face value.
Putin says certifying the newly-built but inoperative second phase of Nord Stream would offer a workaround solution. The Russian leader told journalists in Tehran this week that he raised the issue of Nord Stream 2 with Scholz about two months ago.
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