‘I Love the Smell of Russian Gas’: Controversial Polish Politician Backs Nord Stream

Polish far-right politician Grzegorz Braun called for the restoration of the Nord Stream pipelines and Poland’s participation in the Russian-German energy project, saying he hoped to declare: “I love the smell of Russian gas in the morning.” Braun, a member of the European Parliament who leads the Confederation of the Polish Crown Party, appeared alongside politicians from Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) at a conference in Lubmin on Wednesday, TVN24 reported.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. A former Polish lawmaker, Braun was excluded from a sitting of the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, in December 2023. Lubmin, in the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, is where the Nord Stream pipelines come ashore after crossing the Baltic Sea from Russia. “Nord Stream 1, and probably Nord Stream 2 as well, will be restarted. Russian gas will flow west, because without it Europe will go bankrupt,” Braun said. He argued that Warsaw should seek a stake in the project instead of opposing it. “Poland should participate, not boycott. Poland should be the initiator,” he said, proposing that the country become a shareholder in Nord Stream. Polish minister calls Braun’s position ‘treason’ Braun’s remarks sharply contradict Poland’s longstanding opposition to Nord Stream, which was built to carry Russian gas directly to Germany while bypassing Poland and Ukraine. Other Topics of Interest Ukraine Strikes Samara Oil Blending Hub for Second Time The Prosvet station blending Urals export crude was hit again after an Oct. 7 strike destroyed four 50,000-cubic-meter storage tanks. Polish Energy Minister Miłosz Motyka condemned Braun’s position. “Grzegorz Braun backed the anti-Polish Nord Stream. Shame and treason,” Motyka wrote. The minister said supporting the pipeline contradicted Poland’s national interests and amounted to backing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Poland has repeatedly warned that dependence on Russian energy allows Moscow to finance its war and use gas supplies as political leverage against European states. AfD pushes for return of Russian gas Braun appeared in Lubmin alongside AfD lawmaker Steffen Kotré. The German party has called for sanctions on Russian energy to be lifted and for gas imports from Russia to resume. AfD leaders are already preparing talks with Putin’s economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev about restoring Russian gas supplies to Germany. The prospective meeting could take place in 2027. Germany’s federal government opposes reopening Nord Stream and says the country has secured alternative energy supplies. Nord Stream 1 stopped operating in 2022, while Nord Stream 2 never entered commercial service. Germany halted its certification on Feb. 22, 2022, two days before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Three of the pipelines’ four lines were subsequently damaged in underwater explosions in September 2022. Any restart would face major legal and political obstacles. The pipelines remain under US and EU sanctions, and reopening them would require approval from the German government. US and Russia discuss possible pipeline deal Braun’s comments came as top US and Russian officials explored the possibility of bringing an American investor into Nord Stream, Reuters reported, citing five people familiar with the discussions. The talks involved US envoy Jared Kushner and Dmitriev, although the extent of their discussions about the pipelines remains unclear. A White House official said there had been “no Nord Stream discussions recently,” while another US official described a deal as unlikely in the medium term. Poland and the Baltic states remain firmly opposed to restoring Russian energy supplies through the pipelines, viewing them as a threat to European security and a potential source of revenue for Moscow’s war against Ukraine. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.