Economic confrontation! The United States tries its best to suppress the ＂Beixi -2＂ project. Will Russia give in？
CCTV News:Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an exclusive interview broadcast by Russian News Channel on the 9th that Russia is ready to normalize relations with the United States, and there may be many ways, including his meeting with US President Trump. Putin said that there is reason to believe that the dialogue with Trump will be constructive. He hoped that American leaders could fulfill their promise to build relations with Moscow.
At present, Putin and Trump have met twice, one during the G-20 Summit held in Germany last July and the other during the APEC Leaders’ Informal Meeting held in Vietnam last November. After that, the two sides called several times.
[News Watch] Russia wants to supply gas to Europe, and the United States tries its best to obstruct it.
Although the leaders of Russia and the United States have been airing opinions from time to time to improve bilateral relations, the confrontation between the two countries in the economic field has never stopped. The "Beixi -2" natural gas pipeline project is one of the cooperative energy projects between Russia and Europe. However, Ukraine and other eastern European countries tried their best to obstruct this project and got the support of the United States. According to the report of American Foreign Policy magazine, the United States is planning sanctions against the "Beixi -2" natural gas pipeline project in the near future, and European companies cooperating with Russia may become the targets of sanctions. Analysts believe that this move by the United States is intended to prevent the project from continuing to advance, so as to reduce Russia’s influence on the European economy.
"Beixi -2" bypassed Eastern Europe and went straight to Germany.
The "Beixi -2" natural gas pipeline project aims to lay a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany via the bottom of the Baltic Sea. It is estimated that 55 billion cubic meters of gas can be transported to Germany every year, meeting 10% of the natural gas demand in Europe. If "Beixi -2" replaces the existing pipeline after completion, Ukraine and other eastern European countries may lose billions of euros in transit fees and energy transshipment, a geopolitical tool, and will bear the risk of rising natural gas prices.
The United States wants to suppress "Beixi -2" because of strategic considerations
US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Mitchell said on the 5th of this month that the "Beixi -2" project will weaken NATO’s East Wing, increase Europe’s dependence on Russia, and threaten Ukraine’s economic security as an energy transit country.
Some experts believe that the United States’ obstruction of "Beixi -2" has the consideration of strategically suppressing Russia. More importantly, Russia and the United States are now in a competitive situation in the European energy market. If Europe increases its imports of Russian natural gas, it will inevitably affect the future export of liquefied gas from the United States to Europe, which is unacceptable to the United States.
Germany is under pressure from the United States and unwilling to give up easily.
Before German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Russia in May, Trump publicly criticized Germany for "buying a lot of natural gas from Russia" and even directly asked Germany to abandon the "Beixi -2" project in exchange for the United States to abandon its trade war with Europe. Merkel, in a dilemma, had to seek Putin’s support, hoping that he would guarantee that even after the "Beixi -2" was put into use, Russia would continue to transport natural gas through the Ukrainian pipeline system, thus eliminating some concerns of the United States.
Expert: Russia will only make limited concessions.
Compared with the tough measures of the United States, Russia’s figure is more soft. Putin said at a joint press conference held after meeting with Merkel on May 18th that Russia is ready to continue gas transmission from Ukraine to Germany when the economy is reasonable, and Russia is willing to negotiate with Ukraine on this. Some experts believe that the "Beixi -2" project has a strong strategic significance for Russia. In order to prevent being subject to Ukraine, Russia must build new pipelines to maintain its position in the European market, so it will only make limited concessions.