
The deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has responded to Germany’s announcement on Tuesday that it would halt the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, warning of a severe hike in natural gas prices for Europe.
“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has issued an order to halt the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Well. Welcome to the brave new world where Europeans are very soon going to pay €2.000 for 1.000 cubic meters of natural gas,” Medvedev tweeted.
Earlier on Tuesday, Scholz announced that the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would be halted in response to Moscow’s actions in eastern Ukraine.
“With regards to the latest developments, we need to reassess the situation also with regards to Nord Stream 2. It sounds very technocratic, but it is the necessary administrative step in order to stop certification of the pipeline,” Scholz said in Berlin.
Some background: The 750-mile pipeline was completed in September but has not yet received final certification from German regulators. Without that, natural gas cannot flow through the Baltic Sea pipeline from Russia to Germany.
Nord Stream 2 could deliver 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. That's more than 50% of Germany's annual consumption and could be worth as much as $15 billion to Gazprom, the Russian state owned company that controls the pipeline.
The United States, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and several EU countries have opposed the pipeline since it was announced in 2015, warning the project would increase Moscow's influence in Europe.