'Did Not Believe Putin Would...': German President Regrets Supporting Russia, Its Gas Pipeline Project

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had long advocated Western rapprochement with Russia, with his Social Democratic Party favouring close economic ties to Moscow.

File image of Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during their meeting at the Kremlin in October 2017 | Photo: Getty

New Delhi: German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who had for years supported Russia's Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline that that would have cut Ukraine out of the energy transit business, has expressed regret for his earlier stance.

Steinmeier, who served as Foreign Minister under Chancellor Angela Merkel, had long advocated Western rapprochement with Russia, with his Social Democratic Party favouring close economic ties to Moscow.

The president has now said the invasion of Ukraine by Russia meant their previous stance was a "mistake", according to a Reuters report.

"My adherence to Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake. We were sticking to a bridge in which Russia no longer believed and which other partners had warned us against," the report quoted Steinmeier as saying.

'I, like others, was mistaken' 

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which was seen as a move that would have weakened Ukraine, now stands cancelled, with a decision to the effect having been taken in February this year.

But the damage was already done, as far as Germany's standing in Europe on the Russia-Ukraine crisis in concerned.     

Social media is flooded with past pictures of Steinmeier embracing Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Ukraine's ambassador Andrij Melnyk refused to attend "solidarity concert" arranged for Ukraine by the German president.

"An affront. Sorry, I'm not coming," he tweeted.

‼️Der Bundespräsident lud mich zum “Solidaritätskonzert mit der Ukraine” 27.3. ein

Kleiner Spoiler: es treten

NUR RUSSISCHE (!) SOLISTEN

auf (Pianist Kissin & Bariton Pogossov)

Keine UkrainerInnen!

Mitten im 🇷🇺Krieg gegen 🇺🇦Zivilisten!

Ein Affront. Sorry, ich bleibe fern‼️ pic.twitter.com/YmZppiWDYv

— Andrij Melnyk (@MelnykAndrij) March 26, 2022

Steinmeier halted the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project after Russia formally recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, just before invading Ukraine on February 24.

Germany gets half its gas suppy from Russia, and the pipeline project was designed to double the flow of the Russian gas direct to Germany.

Germany had argued that it was primarily a commercial project that aimed to diversify energy supplies for Europe.

"We failed to build a common European house. I did not believe Vladimir Putin would embrace his country's complete economic, political and moral ruin for the sake of his imperial madness," Steinmeier was quoted as saying in the Reuters report quoted above.

"In this, I, like others, was mistaken," he said.