After six months of failed attempts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky finally met with his US President Joe Biden in Washington on August 30. The White House agreed to lift the US sanctions on Russia’s Beixi No. 2 pipeline after reaching a consensus with Berlin. This is a diplomatic blow to Kiev. Kiev believes that this Russian project is hostile and dangerous to his interests.
According to Zelensky, this natural gas pipeline bypassing Ukrainian territory represents a “Serious Security Threat” From his country. “Nord Stream 2 will deprive Ukraine of its gas supply, which means depriving us of at least US$3 billion [2,5 milliards d’euros] Every year… we will not have to pay any expenses to the Ukrainian army”, On June 2, the President of Ukraine said to a group of US senators.
Moscow denies that the gas pipeline project has any political aspects. But Russian state television’s speeches sometimes present the project in a different way. A star host said in 2019: “We finished North Stream 2, and then we crushed Ukraine!”
“No honeymoon”
Today, the construction of a natural gas pipeline that directly connects the territories of Russia and Germany across the Baltic Sea bed is nearing completion.Mr. Biden defended the lifting of U.S. sanctions “impossible” Stop it, and desire “Repair” Relations with Germany, due to its natural gas demand, Germany attaches great importance to this project. However, in order to spare Kiev, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that she will travel to Ukraine on August 22, where she will meet with Mr. Zelensky.
Biden chose to ignore his Ukrainian counterparts many times during his trip to Europe, especially during the NATO summit. Kiev called for integration into the transatlantic military alliance to ensure its safety. “Biden wants to solve the gas pipeline problem before Zelensky’s visit to China, so as not to deal with the most annoying bilateral problems,” Analysis Alyona Getmanchuk, Director of the New Europe Center of the International Affairs Think Tank, based in Kiev.
This is not the only “irritating” document. During the 2020 US presidential campaign, Ukraine was at the center of false propaganda campaigns targeting Joe Biden through its son Hunter. The latter was accused of corruption by Donald Trump and Rudy Giulani, a lawyer in charge of the former president, while serving as a board member of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. At that time, Volodymyr Zelensky seemed to be entangled in this extramarital affair that left traces. In particular, this makes the current White House place higher demands on the Ukrainian government on issues such as reform, public enterprise governance, and anti-corruption.
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