The Russia-Germany gas pipeline: environment and politics
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Historian, Head of the Tallinn City Archives
The question of the environmental influence of the gas pipeline to be constructed between Russia and Germany takes on a special importance due to the vulnerability of the Baltic Sea.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has declared the Baltic Sea an especially sensitive area, although they did omit the areas belonging to Russia in the eastern reaches of the Gulf of Finland and around Kaliningrad. But the question is not only about the possible environmental effect of the gas pipeline, since the route of the gas pipeline is accompanied by many energy policy and energy sector decisions. All this adds a clear political dimension to the gas pipeline. Poland senses the politico-economic threat the most keenly, for it was the game of Russia and Germany for the Baltic States and Poland that awakened historical mistrust with regard to the Berlin-Moscow axis. Since many of the technical and other issues surrounding the new gas pipeline are still open, Estonia has not to this point come out clearly for or against the gas pipeline project.