Photo: EPA-EFE/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE
US President Donald Trump’s Envoy for Special Assignments Richard Grenell has been to Switzerland multiple times to discuss the resumption of Russian gas exports to Germany via the mothballed Nord Stream 2 undersea pipeline, German newspaper Bild reported on Sunday.
Russia and the US have been discussing an agreement that would see American companies acting as intermediaries in the deliveries, Bild reported, adding that it would mean the United States would effectively be able to control the “German gas tap”.
Also on the table is the option of repairing and repurposing the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to transport green hydrogen from Finland to Germany, Bild said. Both pipelines were damaged in a sabotage operation in September 2022 and neither is currently in use.
Citing sources in German government circles, Bild said that the German authorities had denied having knowledge of any secret meetings in Switzerland, and that Grenell himself had denied being involved in any such negotiations.
Earlier on Sunday, the Financial Times reported that Matthias Warnig, the former managing director of Nord Stream 2 AG, the Russian-owned company that managed the pipeline, was behind the recent negotiations. Warnig, who was once close to Vladimir Putin, according to the Financial Times, resigned from Nord Stream 2 AG in protest at the invasion of Ukraine.
Though completed, the €9.5-billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline was not certified by the German authorities following the start of the war, and never went into operation. The pipeline is due to be put up for auction, once Nord Stream 2 AG’s bankruptcy proceedings have been resolved, according to the FT.
