The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline moves on

“CALMLY, WITHOUT giving in to provocations, we lay our gas pipeline over their sanctions.” This piece of doggerel, delivered, mortifyingly, in hip-hop form last year by a Kremlin propagandist, invited Russians to resist Western attempts to thwart the motherland’s mighty energy policy. In fact, even though Russia is under sanctions, Nord Stream 2 (NS2), a Russia-Germany undersea gas pipe that has divided Europeans and angered America, is not. Day by day, the companies contracted by Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas giant and NS2’s sole shareholder, are laying their concrete-coated steel pipe segments on the bed of the Baltic Sea. They aim to finish by the end of the year.

NS2 is a deeply troubling prospect for those who have long feared the Kremlin’s ability to export political influence along with gas. Critics charge that, by increasing dependence on Russia, it exposes parts of Europe to the risk of energy blackmail at the hands of an increasingly antagonistic supplier. Ukraine is particularly jittery. NS2 bypasses its territory entirely, potentially depriving it of transit fees it currently charges Gazprom, worth about 2% of GDP, and of a useful piece of leverage against a large, aggressive neighbour. No wonder Gazprom has vowed to eliminate its dependence on Ukraine for transit.