Seated across from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the president said U.S. commitments to European defense were undermined by Germany's ties to the Russian energy sector.
German energy company Wintershall is involved with Russian natural gas company Gazprom's push to double the Nord Stream pipeline running through the Baltic Sea to Germany.
Trump said "Germany is totally controlled by Russia," because of those ties.
"The framework conditions for the energy cooperation between Russia and Europe are determined by the European countries themselves - and not by third-party countries," he said in August 2017.
Some voices in the European energy sector contend U.S. pressure on Germany and Russia is a veiled way to advance liquefied natural gas into the region.
Pointing to conflict between Russia and Georgia a decade ago, which threatened the 1,099-mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Healy Baumgardner, a global fossil fuel adviser and the former press secretary for the Energy Department under President George W. Bush, told UPI it's naïve to try to decouple energy from political issues.
"Facts are, energy is a key component of national security - would you rather rely on Russia or the United States?" she said.
https://www.upi.com/Energy-News/2018/07/11/Germany-controlled-by-Russia-on-gas-Trump-says/3301531310900/
German energy company Wintershall is involved with Russian natural gas company Gazprom's push to double the Nord Stream pipeline running through the Baltic Sea to Germany.
Trump said "Germany is totally controlled by Russia," because of those ties.
"The framework conditions for the energy cooperation between Russia and Europe are determined by the European countries themselves - and not by third-party countries," he said in August 2017.
Some voices in the European energy sector contend U.S. pressure on Germany and Russia is a veiled way to advance liquefied natural gas into the region.
Pointing to conflict between Russia and Georgia a decade ago, which threatened the 1,099-mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Healy Baumgardner, a global fossil fuel adviser and the former press secretary for the Energy Department under President George W. Bush, told UPI it's naïve to try to decouple energy from political issues.
"Facts are, energy is a key component of national security - would you rather rely on Russia or the United States?" she said.
https://www.upi.com/Energy-News/2018/07/11/Germany-controlled-by-Russia-on-gas-Trump-says/3301531310900/
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