BEIJING, March 24. /TASS/. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported by Germany from the United States turned out to be ‘far more expensive and worse’ than Russian gas delivered via pipelines, a member of the German parliament has said.
"The two pipelines [Nord Stream and Nord Stream II] brought cheap natural gas from Russia to Germany. Because of the sabotage, there is now no way to use these options," Andrej Hunko, a member of the German Bundestag and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, told China’s Global Times newspaper. "On the other hand, we now receive a lot of gas from the US, liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is by far more expensive and worse from an ecological point of view."
In his words Europe is now dependent on US gas, "which is as well a problem."
"There is no possibility for Germany to choose which gas is better and cheaper and which is ecologically better," Hunko added.
The German lawmaker went on to say that discussions on repairing the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines are under way in the German society, "but right now, that possibility is gone."
Hunko also did not reject the possibility of Washington’s role in those sabotage attacks. "As I said, I thought this could be true," he said.
On September 27, 2022, Nord Stream AG reported unprecedented damage that occurred the day before on three strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipelines. On September 26, 2022, Swedish seismologists registered two explosions on the pipeline routes. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office launched a criminal case based on charges of international terrorism.
On February 8, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article, which said, citing sources, that US Navy divers had planted explosive devices under the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the cover of the BALTOPS exercise in June 2022, and Norwegians activated the bombs three months later. According to the journalist, the decision to conduct the operation was made by US President Joe Biden personally, following nine months of discussions with White House security specialists. White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a comment to TASS that Hersh’s account was "utterly false and complete fiction.".