Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that there could be a desire to restore economic ties with Russia after the war in Ukraine ends, including by resuming the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, writes Politico.
At a time when there is renewed talk of a diplomatic end to the war, Tusk called calls by some European politicians to restore economic cooperation with Russia “alarm bells.” In an interview with the Sunday Times, Polis said that someone in Europe wants to restore Nord Stream 2, to work with Russia again and profit from oil and gas, and that this is worrying.
Critics have called Nord Stream 2 a strategic mistake that symbolizes Europe’s efforts to satisfy Moscow’s whims. After Russian dictator Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the pipeline was blown up; a Ukrainian diver was later detained for it. Tusk wrote about it on the X in October that
the problem was not the gas pipeline being blown up – the problem was that the pipeline was built at all.
Tusk said in an interview that a Polish court’s decision not to extradite one of the detainees in the gas pipeline case to Germany meant that Ukraine had the right to attack Russia-related targets anywhere in Europe. The Polish prime minister also condemned Europe’s complacency and failure to adequately assess Putin’s threats.
The Polish prime minister also called Brexit one of the biggest mistakes in Europe’s common history in the interview, and noted that it is much more visible today what it has done.
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