In a blow to Vladimir Putin and his European enabler, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, a Norwegian energy-regulatory company says it will suspend operations to certify the Nord Stream II gas pipeline.
The suspension was first reported by Russia’s RBC News, but DNV GL confirmed to the Washington Examiner that its action is a response to Congressional legislation passed “under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Clarification Act… This sanctions companies providing testing, inspection or certification services to the Nord Stream II pipeline system… We are implementing a plan to wind down our verification support to the project. As the situation currently stands, DNV GL cannot issue a certificate upon the completion of the pipeline.”
DNV GL’s decision means that Russia will not be able to complete the Danish stretch of the pipeline unless it can find another company willing to provide verification services. That is far easier said than done. Not many companies are likely to be willing to fill DNV GL’s place, fearing the consequences of U.S. sanctions on their global operations. Considering that the Biden administration is likely to oppose Nord Stream II in the same manner as the Trump administration, Putin’s problem isn’t going away soon. This is good news.
I’ve previously written in favor of this sanctions threat, believing that Nord Stream II threatens European and NATO security. That’s because Nord Stream II is not an energy pipeline so much as it is a political sword. A sword, that is, designed to ensure that the European Union and its constituent member states are reliant on Russian energy exports for at least the next generation. A condition of such reliance would allow Vladimir Putin to extract political subservience from European governments, otherwise holding their populations hostage amid cold winters. It’s a clever strategy that Putin has previously applied against Belarus and Ukraine. Attempting to hedge against the risk of U.S. action to disrupt DNV GL’s activities, Russia’s SVR intelligence service (responsible for the recent SolarWinds cyberhack) has prioritized gaining access to DNV-GL’s communications and decision-making processes. Some of these efforts have been more successful than others.
Regardless, the top line here is that DNV GL’s departure from Nord Stream II is a significant loss for Russia. It will be hard for the pipeline’s supervisors to find an alternate verification company that is acceptable to Danish government regulators. Moving past President Trump’s faux pas toward Denmark, the Biden administration should push Copenhagen to use DNV GL’s withdrawal as a reason to abandon the project altogether. Denmark should do so. As attested by the recent Russian air force breach of sovereign Danish airspace, Putin is no friend of the Danish people. America, however, is. And as a side note, DNV GL deserves preferential treatment from the U.S. government as a reward for its positive decision.
