Today, Germany has forgotten that it was Russia that stopped gas supplies and that even before the outbreak of a full-scale war against Ukraine, it had a very specific plan to deprive Germany of access to energy, so that the German economy would feel it, so that it would “fall to its knees,” Patrycja Anna Tepper, an analyst from the Western Institute in Poznań, recalled in an interview with PAP.
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Why do the German media accuse Poland?
What happened to Volodymyr Zhuravlov?
What were the consequences of blowing up Nord Stream?
What narratives appeared in the German media after Żurawlow's dismissal?
On Friday, October 17, a Polish court refused to extradite Volodymyr Zhuravlov, who was wanted on a European arrest warrant, to Germany due to suspicions that he took part in blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline.
In September 2022, explosions damaged both the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which carried Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, and the parallel Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The latter has not been put into operation. The process of its certification was suspended by Germany in February 2022 in response to Russia's recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, regions belonging to Ukraine. Earlier, in 2019, the Swiss company AllSeas also withdrew from the construction of the pipeline, which was the result of American sanctions imposed on companies involved in this project.
German politicians accuse Poland
Decision of the Polish court to release Żurawlow was criticized by far-right AfD politicians and the far left of the Sahry Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW). They accused Poland of blocking the explanation of the “terrorist attack” that harmed Germany's energy security.
At the same time, a false narrative appeared in the German media, blaming “saboteurs” for the lack of Russian gas supplies in 2022. This false information was provided on October 18 by, among others, German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle News on Facebook.
A similar narrative was spread on social media by Russian propagandists after the pipelines were blown up in 2022. They argued then that only the destruction of Nord Stream deprived Germany of a cheap source of heat and energy and condemned the country to expensive American liquefied gas. As Patrycja Anna Tepper recalled in an interview with PAP, gas stopped flowing to Germany in 2021. The supply restrictions were immediately felt because before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, 55 percent gas consumed in Germany was imported from Russia.
According to the PAP interlocutor, the myth of the “reliable Russian business partner and gas supplier” was common in Germany. In her opinion, the belief that “cheap” Russian gas was necessary for the energy transformation, independence from nuclear energy and coal, and protection of German citizens from high bills was also deeply rooted in German society.
Germany writes about attack on “critical infrastructure”
Tepper also noted that the information about Żurawlow's dismissal in the German media still emphasizes that the blowing up of Nord Stream was an attack on “German critical infrastructure.” According to her, this is another manipulation.
In fact, as also recalled by the Polish judge Dariusz Łubowski ruling in the Żurawlów case in the justification of the judgment, Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were the aggressor's infrastructure. Due to their ownership structure, both pipelines belong mostly (in Nord Stream 1) or entirely (Nord Stream 2) to the Russian Federation.
German politicians who criticize the decision of the Polish court and call for punishment of Poland also downplay the effects of the construction of Nord Stream, omitting important facts. AfD MP Tomasz Froelich wrote on X that “no one seriously believes that funds from Nord Stream financed the war.” However, the “funds” that the Russian Federation obtained from the export of gas and oil to Germany in 2021 alone, according to data from the federal statistical office Destatis, amounted to EUR 19.4 billion.
