Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini and US President Donald Trump called the Nord Stream 2 pipeline a “geopolitical weapon.” This is stated in a joint statement by the leaders of the two countries, adopted after the talks in Washington.
In addition, in their statement, the Slovak and American leaders stressed that they "firmly support" the sovereignty, territorial integrity and energy security of Ukraine’s neighbor Russia. This implies, in particular, reverse gas supplies to the Ukrainian market from the territory of Slovakia.
“We reiterate our rejection of the use of energy projects as geopolitical weapons, including Nord Stream 2,” said Trump and Pellegrini, adding that anti-Russian sanctions cannot be lifted until the Minsk agreements are fully implemented.
Recall that the negotiations of Donald Trump and Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini took place on May 3 in the White House. In the announcement of the meeting, distributed by the press service of the US administration, it was clarified that the topics of discussion of the two leaders will be issues of defense cooperation and energy security.
"Purely political project"
Bratislava’s concern about Nord Stream 2 is explained by the fact that Slovakia is participating in the transit gas supply chain passing through Ukrainian territory. Having passed through the Ukrainian GTS, Russian natural gas enters the Slovak gas pipelines and is further distributed throughout Europe. To date, revenues from fuel transit bring in the Slovak budget about € 700–800 million annually. After the launch of the Nord Stream - 2 and Turkish Stream projects, the volume of Ukrainian and, accordingly, Slovak transit may decrease if new options for using the republic's GTS are not found.
- The welding process on board the lay vessel C10
- © nord-stream2.com
Back in 2015, the head of the Slovak Cabinet (then this post was occupied by Robert Fico. - RT ) stated that he considered the Nord Stream - 2 not a commercial, but a political project. According to the politician, this gas pipeline will strengthen the positions of Russia and Germany.
“This is a purely political project, we reject its description as a commercial one,” Fico told reporters at the end of the EU summit in Brussels.
Similar statements regarding the Nord Stream - 2 are constantly heard from representatives of the United States, Ukraine and Poland: the leadership of these countries insists that Moscow will certainly use the launch of the second branch of the trans-Baltic gas pipeline to put political pressure on Kiev in order to deprive it of the income gas (to date, Ukraine’s revenues for transit amount to about $ 3 billion a year. - RT ). Earlier, Kiev even filed a lawsuit against the Russian Gazprom in the Stockholm Arbitration Court, demanding payment of $ 12 billion as “compensation” for the construction of gas pipelines bypassing Ukraine by the Russian side.
- LNG tanker in the Polish port of Swinoujscie
- Reuters
- © Agencja Gazata / Cezary Aszkielowicz
The White House, in turn, constantly says that the launch of the Nord Stream - 2 allegedly threatens the energy security of all of Europe and will put European consumers in dependence on Russia. At the same time, as an alternative, Washington proposes European partners to increase imports of American liquefied natural gas (LNG), which in the end will be much more expensive than the Russian. The American side even tried to threaten sanctions against European companies participating in the Nord Stream 2 project, but ran into serious outrage and resistance from European governments.
“Germany pays billions of dollars a year to Russia, and we protect this country from Russia. They are building a gas pipeline, the purpose of which is to pay billions of dollars to the treasury of Russia. I think this is completely unacceptable, ”Donald Trump said earlier, commenting on the plans of Berlin and Moscow for the launch of Nord Stream 2.
Warsaw comes out with a similar criticism. In April of this year, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moravetsky compared gas supplies through the Nord Stream-2 pipeline to the purchase of Russian weapons.
“Paying for Russian gas is like paying for President Putin’s weapons,” said Moravetsky.
Bratislava, in turn, although it spoke about the “political” nature of the pipeline, however, in 2016, it began negotiations with Gazprom for future gas supplies and transit.
As stated then in the Russian government, Moscow is ready to work on removing risks for Slovakia. Thus, the creation of a transit corridor of gas supplies from Germany to the Balkans and to Hungary after the launch of Nord Stream 2 was considered as one of the options.
In 2017, Gazprom Export signed a framework agreement with Slovak Eustream as for the period up to 2050 in the amount of € 5.3 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, the Russian company can gain access to the republic's GTS. As explained by the representatives of Gazprom, this document creates the basis for future substantive contracts for the transportation of raw materials.
In the future, Slovakia can take part in the transit supply chain of gas in another direction: along with Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary, the republic can transport raw materials that will flow to the European market through the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, this option is also being considered by the Russian side.
Real goals diverge
Initially, Moscow had to think about the redistribution of transit flows from the Ukrainian direction due to the actions of Kiev, experts remind. Thus, the Ukrainian authorities are demanding a review of transit tariffs, fixed in an already signed contract, in order to increase them by about 40%. In addition, Kiev makes claims to the volumes of pumped fuel, demanding that Moscow increase deliveries, but is not in a hurry to invest in upgrading the gas transmission network.
Back in 2017, the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy criticized the management of Naftogaz for unwillingness to invest in the maintenance and development of the gas transportation system, saying that this could lead to pipeline outages. However, the calls of the minister were not heard. At the same time, according to experts, the Ukrainian transit has not only political, but also technological risks. Analysts argue that if anyone should be accused of reducing transit in the Ukrainian direction, then first of all it is Kiev.
- Gas pipeline, Ukraine
- AFP
- © ALEXANDER ZOBIN
According to the president of the Center for Strategic Communications, Dmitry Abzalov, the Slovak Prime Minister should blame the threat of stopping transit on Kiev, and not criticize Moscow and Berlin for building the Nord Stream - 2.
“In reality, such attacks on Nord Stream 2, which Washington encourages, are not connected with concerns about the interests of Ukraine or Slovakia, but with the desire of the States to press Russia on the European energy market. The United States, being now gas exporters and competitors in this market, in principle oppose Russian exports, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.
According to Abzalov, the real goals of Bratislava and Washington differ, since it is important for Slovakia to keep the transit of raw materials through its territory, while the States would like to oust Russia from the European energy market.
“The fact that the United States tactically supports Ukraine and Slovakia should not be misleading. In fact, any interruptions in pipeline deliveries from Russia are beneficial only to the American side. And in Bratislava, they should understand this, ”the expert explained.
Therefore, although the Slovak authorities are opposed to the Nord Stream - 2, the rhetoric of the Slovak government is much softer than, for example, statements by the Polish leadership on this topic, analysts say. On the whole, Bratislava is committed to maintaining constructive relations with Moscow, Dmitry Abzalov believes. The fact is that, unlike Poland, Slovakia, due to its distance from the sea, cannot build LNG terminals to buy liquefied natural gas directly from producers. Therefore, the country is forced one way or another to focus on pipeline supplies.
“Slovakia is advantageous to negotiate with Moscow, because it will still buy Russian fuel,” explained the expert. - With loud statements, Bratislava wants to strengthen its bargaining position. But in any case, some amount of transit through Slovak territory will continue, albeit not as large as before. Relations between Russia and Slovakia are a whole complex of political and economic aspects. It should be recalled that Bratislava traditionally opposed the excessive strengthening of NATO’s positions in the region, although it participates in the alliance. ”
“Bratislava would have only lost”
We note that recently in the Slovak government a dispute broke out about the format of military cooperation with the Pentagon. The country's Defense Ministry came out in March of negotiations with its American counterparts to conclude a bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA). Mainly, the Slovak military did not like the initiative, according to which the US planned to provide Bratislava with financial support for the modernization of two military airfields. As explained in the defense ministry, the signing of a treaty on such conditions would jeopardize the sovereignty of the republic and could be the basis for the deployment of an American contingent in the country.
In addition, the document under discussion did not even specify how much of the equipment and personnel of the US Armed Forces could be on Slovak territory, and it was planned to transfer funds in the amount of $ 105 million to Slovakia through the European Containment Initiative - the defense program adopted by the White House 2014 in the Crimea and Ukraine.
- Slovak Defense Minister Peter Gaidos
- globallookpress.com
- © mod.gov.sk
The decision of Defense Minister Peter Gaydosh did not meet with the approval of the country's Prime Minister, but was supported in parliament. The chairman of the National Council, the leader of the Slovak National Party, which is part of the government coalition of the Republic of the Slovak National Party, said it was necessary to revise the terms of the upcoming Slovak-American defense treaty.
“We will insist that in the new agreement on cooperation with the United States in the field of defense there is not a word about the temporary or permanent presence in the republic of the US Armed Forces,” said the parliamentarian.
According to experts, disagreements in the Slovakian government on relations with the Pentagon arose after Robert Fico was replaced by his fellow party member Peter Pellegrini in 2018 as Robert Fico. The latter decided to adjust the course of the country in the direction of greater convergence with Washington. However, supporters of the previous policy retain strong positions in the government and parliament and oppose some ideas of the new prime minister. Earlier, this point of view in an interview with RT was expressed by Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies.
Commenting on the position of the Defense Ministry and the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament on the military presence of the US Armed Forces in the country, Dmitry Abzalov noted that the appearance of American military bases would not only have done nothing to Bratislava, but also complicated relations with Russia.
“This would strengthen the position of Washington, but Bratislava would only lose, and this would lead to negative consequences both in the political and economic spheres. Therefore, Slovakia does not want to risk cooperation with Moscow, ”the expert emphasized.
Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, adheres to a similar point of view. According to the expert, although Peter Pellegrini follows the American line, for Slovakia it is more important to maintain constructive relations with Moscow, rather than play on the side of the United States.
“It is possible that the situation with Nord Stream 2 and the possible loss of transit revenues by Slovakia will be used by pro-American supporters to use anti-Russian political speculations to direct Bratislava along the Polish route. But it is doubtful that they will succeed, ”concluded the expert.