"Many countries that have turned back to EU policy towards Russia are under the influence of “dirty” money from Russia.This division of Europe is caused by mercantile personal bilateral interests with Russia. Cyprus, Austria, Bulgaria and Greece (which did not expel Russian diplomats - Author), pay more attention to Russian “dirty” money than to a common European position.Malta, Cyprus and Portugal (also ignored the diplomatic boycott - Aut.), receive significant revenues from implementation of visa policy for Russian citizens.Hundreds of Russian citizens had the opportunity to purchase an EU passport that provides civil rights, and hence political influence in Europe", Sven Gigold, a spokeswoman for the Green Group in the European Parliament, said.
A clear example of such "dirty" Russian money is the purely political project of Gazprom, Nord Stream 2. Last week, the German Federal Office for Shipping andHydrography issued permission to build a 30-km section of the pipe. And the absurdity of the situation is that it happened on March 27th - the day when the West expelled Russian diplomats in solidarity with Britain.
The decision of the Federal Office is the final one, which Russia expected from Germany. Some general decision of the German government, according to the words of the president of the Centre for Global Studies "Strategy XXI" Mykhailo Gonchar, is not required. The expert emphasizes that outside Germany, Gazprom still needs to obtain permits from Finland, Sweden and Denmark. In the article "By-pass routes: how Russia wants to deprive Ukraine of the status of the main gas transit country to Europe?", “Segodnya” websitealready wrote that in November last year the Danish parliament had passed a law prohibiting the laying of a pipe through its territorial waters. But Russia has already developed a by-pass route.
With regard to the permissions of Sweden and Finland, according to Mykhailo Gonchar, there will be no any problems with them. The route of the Nord Stream-2 actually coincides with the Nord Stream-1, which had already been agreed by them. In addition, earlier the Swedes and Finns, with all their rhetoric about the unnecessary construction of another gas pipeline, allowed Gazprom to place storage facilities for pipes in three ports on their territories.
"The position of Germany, Austria and France is the result of the "schroderization" of the European political system. But, like the Russians, the Germans are afraid of American sanctions against the contractors and subcontractors of the Nord Stream-2 project. From the formal point of view, the deadline for introduction of sanctions ends when Gazprom receives the final permission of Finland and Sweden in the 2nd quarter of this year. But there is an interesting point: even according to Russian experts, imported pipes, components, equipment, and executors of works comprise 90% of this project. So, Americans can impose sanctions against contractors at any time, even if Gazprom already builds a significant part of the pipeline, according to their law (CAATSA. - Author), - Mykhailo Gonchar said.
