Gazprom's Pyrrhic victory: Nord Stream 2 will result in losses for Russia

The European Union has admitted defeat in the fight against Russia on at least two fronts. Firstly, Nord Stream 2 will still be completed, and secondly, it will not be possible to disconnect Russia from the interbank system for transmitting information about SWIFT payments. The fact that Europe simply does not have such instruments was announced by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, to the MEPs in Brussels. So, Europe cannot punish our country for the sum of all its sins without risking its economic well-being.

Borrell explained this by the fact that SWIFT is a private international organization, on whose policy the European Union has no authority to influence, while with Nord Stream everything looks a little more complicated. The fact is that this project interferes with the trend announced by the European authorities to diversify energy sources, but since this project is also being implemented by private companies, the EU also has no tools to stop it.

At the same time, America is not too ready for decisive action in this direction, fearing to spoil the already strained relations with its European allies.

However, these circumstances cannot be called a victory for Russia either. Network analyst Andrey Nalgin, offers the epithet "Pyrrhic" for such a victory, and explains that the European Union is quite capable of setting its own demands on the operation of the pipeline to Russia. And they, according to the same Borrell, will mean "transparency without discrimination, with an adequate level of control." In fact, they will mean non-discriminatory admission to the pipe of third-party suppliers and a 50% quota for Gazprom. But then the recoupment of the second branch of the gas pipeline will not occur until the next century ... Moreover, in 30 years, due to the policy of decarbonization of the economy, Europe will need no more than half of the volume of gas that will go through Nord Stream 2.

“Naturally, the costs will be borne by the Russian population. But it will be later. In the meantime, you can celebrate and revel in victory...”, - sums up the analyst.