Later, on August 22, Chancellor Merkel visited Kyiv. On July 12, President Zelensky visited Berlin and met Chancellor Angela Merkel and other officials of the German cabinet. Germany and Ukraine are in a permanent dialogue over energy and security issues. This view was reiterated by Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian foreign affairs minister, in an article in Foreign Affairs. Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called the U.S.-Germany gas transit deal a mistake that could be resolved only by offering a NATO membership Action Plan to Ukraine. Both governments called on the European Commission to start consultations on the new gas pipeline. The governments of Ukraine and Poland addressed the European Commission on possible security implications devolving from operation of the NS2. Also, Kyiv has no illusions about Russia’s readiness to transit gas to the EU through Ukraine in quantities sufficient to keep the previous level of revenues and to support the pipeline functionality. If Russia’s gas transit through Ukraine drops because of NS2, the gas transit system will need to be modernized at a cost exceeding the Green Fund monies. From the Ukrainian perspective, the problem is that the $1 billion is the annual gas transit revenue that, under an existing Russia-Ukraine agreement, Ukraine is slated to receive from Gazprom for transiting Russian gas until 2024. The agreement also stipulates that Germany and the United States will respond vigorously should Russia attempt to use energy supplies as a weapon against Ukraine, and recognizes the German government as a key player in the energy sector of the EU and Eastern Europe.
The two countries committed to supporting at least $1 billion in investments in the fund. The parties agreed to establish the Green Fund for Ukraine to support that country’s energy transition, energy efficiency, and energy security, including facilitating the development of hydrogen and accelerating the transition from coal to carbon neutrality. During their July meeting in Washington, D.C., President Biden and German chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the NS2 project and the issues it posed for Ukrainian gas transit this discussion resulted in a special statement. Finishing the work became possible after the White House waived some sanctions against the operating company, Nord Stream 2 AG, and its CEO in May of this year. On September 10, Gazprom reported that construction on the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipeline had been completed. Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Developments and Ukrainian Gas Transit According to President Zelensky, the plan provides a comprehensive roadmap for the return of Crimea to Ukrainian control. In late September the Ukrainian government approved an action plan for implementing the Strategy for Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Crimea. It will monitor human rights issues, security issues, and the environmental and economic situation on the peninsula. After the summit, the main office of the Crimea Platform was established in Kyiv.
Participants in the summit signed a joint declaration, which remains open for other countries to join. The Crimea Platform was established by President Zelensky in February 2021 to build a coordinated international effort to pressure Russia to deoccupy the Crimean Peninsula. The inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform was held in Kyiv on August 23 with representatives of forty-six countries, including several heads of state or government, ministers, ambassadors, and leaders of international organizations. International Crimea Platform Summit for Deoccupation of the Peninsula Finally, Russia’s decision to enroll Ukrainian citizens in the non-government-controlled territories as voters in Russian elections enraged Kyiv and prompted a condemnation of the Russian State Duma elections as illegitimate. Reforms in the energy sector took a step back with a populist decision by the cabinet not to raise the prices households paid for gas, a blow to the nascent gas market. The pace of COVID-19 vaccination has somewhat improved, but not enough to prevent a new wave of the pandemic, which started in September 2021. Over the past three months, Ukrainian politics centered on celebrations of the thirtieth anniversary of the country’s independence, the inaugural Crimea Platform summit, and gas transit issues, especially those posed by the Nord Stream 2 project.
Science and Technology Innovation Program.The Middle East and North Africa Workforce Development Initiative.Kissinger Institute on China and the United States.Nuclear Proliferation International History Project.North Korea International Documentation Project.Environmental Change and Security Program.Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy.