JUST IN: Germany Halts Certification of Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline Over Russia’s Threat to Ukraine

Photo by John Macdougal-Pool/Getty Images

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced his country will halt the certification of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline in light of Russia’s move to send troops into Ukraine’s separatist territories.

The Associated Press reports Scholz spoke to reporters on Tuesday after Vladimir Putin announced he would send Russian troops into Ukraine’s breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which the Russian president declared as independent states. Scholz said the German government has decided to “reassess” certifying the pipeline as a response to Russia’s violation of Ukrainian territorial sovereignty.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has been a source of international political debate for some time. Germany is a major consumer of Russian natural gas, and they were expected to take in more of it with their plans to reconfigure their national energy use. The $10 billion pipeline would’ve doubled the flow of Russian natural gas to Germany, though the U.S. has been warning that the project is representative of Europe’s over-reliance on Russian energy.

German officials have been reluctant in recent months to say whether they would apply any kind of sanctions to Nord Stream 2 over Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine. Scholz told reporters however that “the situation has fundamentally changed,” and Germany would look for other means to secure energy.