Grzegorz Braun loves the "smell of Russian gas" and wants Poland in Nord Stream 1 and 2

The joint conference took place in Lubmin, Germany, where the distribution station of the Nord Stream gas pipeline is located. On the Polish side, apart from Grzegorz Braun, MPs Roman Fritz and Sławomir Ozdyk took part. Alternative für Deutschland was represented by, among others: Steffen Kotré, member of the Bundestag, and local activists of the group.

Politicians criticized the Green Deal, decarbonization and the EU's climate policy. They argued that the European economy needs access to cheaper energy sources, including coal and gas from Russia.

In his speech, Grzegorz Braun spoke about the need to resume political dialogue between Poland, Germany and Russia. In his opinion, Warsaw should not boycott energy projects connecting Berlin with Moscow.

Poland should participate, not boycott. Poland should be the initiator, Braun said.

The MEP also referred to the format of cooperation between Poland, Germany and Russia, carried out years ago as part of the so-called Królewiecki Triangle. At the end of his speech, he paraphrased a quote from the movie "Apocalypse Now," saying he "loves the smell of Russian gas in the morning."

Żaryn comments: More and more disturbing

An advisor to former president Andrzej Duda commented on the matter.

Braun's circle wants to be a catalyst for dialogue with Germany and Russia, and presents Russian raw materials as a solution to the energy crisis threatening Europe (a propaganda copy from Russia). (...) This is another element of the political agenda of Braun's party, which directly pursues Russian interests in Europe. Earlier, Braun announced his intention to withdraw allied troops, mainly American ones, from Poland. Now he is calling for a reset and strong energy cooperation with Russia, announcing offensive actions to this end. The political activity of this environment is getting worse and more disturbing! – wrote Stanisław Żaryn on X.

Nord Stream, Russia and why it is not profitable

The Nord Stream project (including the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines) was officially presented by its initiators as a purely economic and commercial venture aimed at ensuring stable gas supplies from Russia to Western Europe. However, in the realities of international relations and energy policy, from the very beginning it functioned primarily as a key Russian project of a strategic and political nature.

Traditional gas transmission routes from Russia to Europe led through land - mainly through Ukraine, Belarus and Poland (Yamal Gas Pipeline). Nord Stream was designed to connect Russia directly with Germany on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. This was also associated with the more or less overt presence of Russian services and navy monitoring critical infrastructure. The presence of such a strategic facility gave Moscow an excuse to increase its military and intelligence activity in the Baltic Sea region.

Thanks to the undersea route, Moscow also gained the opportunity to politically and economically blackmail the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (especially Ukraine), cutting them off from transit profits and potentially from the raw material supplies themselves, without the risk of interrupting exports to the main recipients in Western Europe. The project effectively divided Western countries (especially Germany) from Central and Eastern European countries (Poland, the Baltic countries) and EU institutions. Countries in the region warned against energy dependence on Moscow, while Berlin pushed for the investment.

Nord Stream weakened the idea of the Energy Union, which was supposed to be the diversification of sources and solidarity of supplies, and gave the Kremlin the opportunity to play energy issues in bilateral relations,

Russia has repeatedly proven that it treats energy resources as a tool of political pressure. Nord Stream was supposed to guarantee a powerful lever of influence on political decisions in Europe - especially in moments of crisis, which was fully revealed in 2021–2022 in the context of the escalation around Ukraine.