Putin: The West looks at our warnings superficially and supports Ukraine in provocative behavior

The Russian president accuses the West of escalating the conflict with Ukraine by holding maneuvers in the Black Sea and sending bombers to fly near his country's borders, a behavior that Putin considers "provocative." He also accuses the West of looking at Moscow's warnings against crossing the "red lines" in a "superficial way".

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Thursday of "escalating" the conflict with Kiev by holding maneuvers in the Black Sea and sending bombers to fly near the Russian border, at a time when Washington accused Moscow of massing its forces near the Ukrainian border.

"Our Western partners are escalating the situation by providing Kiev with modern lethal weapons and conducting provocative military exercises in the Black Sea," Putin said in a speech, noting that Western bombers flew "20 kilometers from our border carrying, as we know, very dangerous weapons."

He accused the West of looking at Moscow's warnings against crossing the "red lines" in a "superficial way".He continued, "Our concerns and warnings regarding the eastern expansion of NATO have been completely ignored." These statements come in the context of escalating tensions between Moscow and the West.

In recent days, NATO, Washington, Paris and Berlin have denounced the reinforcement of Russia's military presence on Ukraine's eastern border, where there has been an armed conflict with pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

Severe tension has hanged over the region since Russia annexed the Ukrainian Crimea in the same year.In the spring of 2021, Russia launched large-scale military operations near Ukraine, which raised fears of an invasion.

Kiev announced Thursday that it is seeking additional military aid from its Western allies, after they expressed concern about the movement of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border.

OTHER NEWS

You know the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany, and why does it anger America?

After its construction was delayed several times due to US sanctions and European disputes, fearing that Russia would use it as a new blackmail card that threatens German and European energy security, the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is being completed, awaiting the expiration of German licenses for its inauguration.

After years of political tension and American pressure, the construction work of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, heading across the Baltic Sea to Germany, has been completed.

Amid increasing tensions between Russia on the one hand and Ukraine and its allies on the other hand, as well as the continuous US threats to impose sanctions on companies involved in the completion of the project, the issue of the Russian gas pipeline extending under the Baltic Sea, called "Nord Stream 2", has resurfaced again after colliding with it. New German legal obstacles.

As soon as the German Federal Agency for Energy Regulatory announced the decision to suspend the licensing mechanism for the launch of the controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, because the pipeline operator had not yet established a branch in Germany under German law, prices on the European market jumped by 10% .

Russian gas carrier "Nord Stream 2"

Nord Stream 2 is a pipeline project to transport natural gas across the Baltic Sea from the largest gas fields in Russia, to Germany and a number of European countries. The length of the new pipeline is about 1,230 km, and it passes close to and parallel to the original gas line, the "Nord Stream 1" pipeline, which has transported about 55 billion cubic meters of gas to Germany since 2012.

The new pipeline, which cost about $11 billion to build, will provide the same amount of natural gas transported by its predecessor, Nord Stream 1, enough to supply 26 million households.

For the construction and operation of the new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Nord Stream AG2 was established in Switzerland. The Russian giant "Gazprom" is the largest contributor to the project, as it covered more than half of the financing, while the French "ENGIE", Austrian "OMV", Dutch "Shell" and other German companies financed the rest of the costs.

According to experts, Nord Stream 2 is of paramount importance as it meets about a third of the future demand for gas from the European Union, and at a cost that is 25% less than its current import bill. Because it links Russia with Germany via the Baltic Sea, which reduces dependence on the transit routes through Ukraine, which are expensive and difficult to negotiate due to the instability in the country.

German and European energy security

For its part, Berlin sees the new project as a way to ensure energy security in the country, coinciding with the steady increase in Germany's needs for clean energy, of which natural gas is a part, in exchange for the gradual abandonment of nuclear power and the closure of all coal-fired power plants by 2038.

Although Germany is one of the strongest supporters of the use of clean and renewable energy resources aimed at achieving the European climate policy, natural gas is one of the most important sources of energy on which the giant industries on which the German and European economies depend alike.

To ensure the superiority and competitiveness of European and German industries, these countries need natural gas from Russia at competitive prices within a long time frame. Herein lies the importance of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which guarantees the supply of gas at relatively low prices in light of the energy burden that burdens the post-Corona world.

Therefore, despite the strong opposition to the project within the European Union, fearing that Russia will use gas as a weapon in order to increase its influence in the old continent, the organizers of the project claim that this pipeline is more important for Germany than Russia, which can easily sell gas to China and other Asian countries; Because of the significant reduction in costly transit fees for alternative pipelines in Central and Eastern European countries.

American blackmails

Since the start of its construction was announced in 2018, the gas pipeline called "Nord Stream 2", which is mostly owned by the Russian giant "Gazprom", has not only occupied the corridors of European politics, but also its impact extended across oceans to Washington, which used it as a pretext to ignite a hidden dispute with Berlin, the beneficiary. The main part of the project, has reached the point of imposing penalties on companies involved in the construction of the line, which impeded the completion of construction work more than once.

In a related context, experts believe that the US sanctions that aimed to thwart the project are nothing but US attempts to increase the share of its liquefied natural gas exports, which it sends across the ocean through huge tanks, which raise its cost when it reaches the shores of Europe, which makes it lose competitiveness with Russian gas coming through pipelines.

With the new administration taking over the reins of power in Washington, and despite Joe Biden taking the position of his predecessor, Donald Trump himself, who saw the project as a threat to European security, he decided to stop US sanctions on the companies participating in the project, because the project was nearing completion, and a desire Not to lose the European ally by using Trump's intransigent approach.