Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that the top of Russia’s struggle in Ukraine may result in efforts to rekindle financial ties with Russia — together with the restarting of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gasoline pipeline.
As Europe faces the opportunity of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Tusk described calls by European politicians to rebuild ties to Moscow on the eventual finish of the struggle as “an alarm bell.”
“[I know] it implies that somebody in Europe needs to revive Nord Stream 2, to have good enterprise with oil and gasoline from Russia, and so forth,” he stated. “For me, it’s all the time like an alarm bell,” Tusk stated in an interview with the Sunday Instances.
A significant pipeline transporting gasoline from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, Nord Stream 2 is described by critics as a strategic mistake and a logo of Europe’s appeasement to Moscow.
The pipeline was blown up in 2022 after the beginning of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A Ukrainian skilled diver was later arrested over his suspected involvement within the sabotage.
“The issue with North Stream 2 will not be that it was blown up. The issue is that it was constructed,” Tusk wrote on X social media earlier this month.
Within the Sunday Instances interview, Tusk stated {that a} Polish court docket ruling blocking a German extradition request for one of many suspects within the Nord Stream sabotage implies that Ukraine has a proper to assault Russia-linked targets wherever in Europe.
The Polish chief additionally berated Europe’s complacency and its fixed underrating of Putin’s expansionist threats. “We’re speaking concerning the finish of the period of illusions in Europe — too late, I’m afraid. Too late to be nicely ready for all of the threats, however not too late to outlive,” Tusk stated.
Additionally within the interview, Tusk described Britain’s exit from the EU as “one of many largest errors in our [shared European] historical past”— 10 years after U.Ok. Prime Minister David Cameron’s ill-fated try to make use of the Brexit referendum as leverage to extract concessions from the EU.
“And right now I believe it’s far more seen,” stated Tusk, who was well-steeped within the first part of the Brexit negotiations as president of the European Council on the time.
“Particularly after Brexit, Poles realized that the target scenario within the U.Ok. will not be significantly better than in Poland. I additionally know that Brits are beginning to go away the U.Ok. and start a life right here in Poland,” he stated.