Leaked documents suggest that a German regional leader ‘colluded with Russians’ on Nord Stream 2

A GERMAN lawmaker allegedly conspired with Gazprom, the Kremlin-backed energy corporation, to push the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project before it was shelved, according to stolen papers.

Manuela Schwesig, the chief minister of the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, is the latest Social Democratic Party (SPD) member to face investigation for her links to the Russian state-backed gas pipeline, which Germany has maintained is a commercial venture during the Ukraine crisis.

Hundreds of emails and papers obtained under the Environmental Information Law say that the 47-year-old regional head surreptitiously established an environmental charity to push for Nord Stream 2, deflect attention away from the project, and dodge US penalties.

She worked so closely with Nord Stream 2 AG, which is controlled by Gazprom and is responsible for the project, that she was advised to revise her public remarks.

Ms. Schwesig, who some have dubbed “Putin’s puppet,” is facing calls to quit, with CDU member Norbert Röttgen accusing her of “colluding with a Russian company and deliberately misleading the public.”

However, the opposition CDU, Greens, and Free Democratic Party (FDP) have established an investigating committee to ascertain the interests of the state administration, the NGO, and Russian pipeline backers.

Nord Stream 2 construction, which runs from western Siberia to Germany, was finished in September, and if regulators had approved its operation, it could have heated 26 million German households at a reasonable cost by doubling the capacity of the already-in-use Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

Washington has long seen the pipeline as a geopolitical tool used by Moscow to undercut energy and national security.

More than seven weeks into the fight and over two months after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspended the disputed project, the leaked documents renewed the emphasis on the White House’s suspicions.

The records acquired by Die Welt indicate that Ms. Schwesig’s office operated as a “branch of Gazprom” and that the charity created by her administration last year intended to hire “experienced Nord Stream 2 employees.”

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