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Photographer: Tim Fadek/Bloomberg Photographer: Tim Fadek/Bloomberg

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a new Russian natural-gas pipeline is impossible if it leaves Ukraine empty-handed, shifting her rhetoric on a project criticized by President Donald Trump.

Merkel said political considerations must play a role on Nord Stream 2, which would double an existing pipeline’s capacity to almost 30 percent of European Union demand. In the past, she has portrayed Nord Stream primarily as a business venture driven by private investors.

“I made it very clear that a project such as Nord Stream 2 is in our view not possible without clarity on how Ukrainian transit will proceed,” Merkel said Tuesday in Berlin alongside Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. “This isn’t only about an economic project. There are political factors to be considered.”

Nord Stream 2, opposed by countries such as Poland and the Baltic states for increasing EU reliance on Russian gas, won German construction approval in March. Trump said last week that the pipeline means Germany will be paying “billions of dollars” to Russia and “that’s not right.”

German Industry



An industry group that promotes economic ties with Russia pushed back after Merkel’s comments, saying Nord Stream guarantees western European energy security and that 4 billion euros ($4.9 billion) already invested in the project would be at risk.

“To change the legal foundation retroactively for political reasons would damage the trust in legal certainty,” Wolfgang Buechele, chairman of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations, said in an emailed statement.

Sebastian Sass, a Nord Stream spokesman, said the pipeline won’t dry up gas transit through Ukraine. Of the 170 billion cubic meters of gas shipped to Europe from Russia in 2017, 90 billion went through Ukraine, 50 billion via the Baltic and 30 billion through Poland, he said.

Read more: Merkel’s coalition hits back after Trump blasts Russia pipeline

Uniper SE, Engie SA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, OMV AG and BASF SE’s Wintershall are Gazprom PJSC’s partners in Nord Stream 2.

Merkel said the issue wasn’t about Russian gas and “whether it flows through Ukraine or through the Baltic,” but about potential losses for Ukraine.

“There will always be a dependence on Russian natural gas,” she told reporters.

— With assistance by Daryna Krasnolutska