The Nord Stream II pipeline project is a lobbying tool for the Russian government, which uses it to keep the Western money flowing towards the Kremlin elite and increase its leverage against key European decision makers. Recent history only confirms that the Kremlin uses energy as a tool of blackmail.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the best way to understand what role the Nord Stream II plays in Russia’s objectives is to look at the coverage by the Russian official state channels, serving the Kremlin to spread disinformation and state propaganda amongst the Russian citizens as well as the European audiences.<\/p>\n
For that reason, the Ukraine Crisis Media Center in cooperation with the European Values Centre for Security Policy prepared a video and an infographic, explaining how Russian state media portray Nord Stream 2 and what the threats behind this project are.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussian media and officials insist that Nord Stream 2 is a safe business initiative, when it fact it is neither safe nor purely economic. It is a powerful political leverage that has capabilities to undermine European energy security\u201d, says Oleksandra Tsekhanovska, senior analyst at Hybrid Warfare Analytical Group, UCMC.<\/p>\n