Friday, August 9, 2024

163 - Nordstream affair - The planning begins

  Truss About cutting off Russian oil and gas exports Once and for all


There are many statements by UK politicians, 
even from before 2022, 
listing some 2022 onward here: 


The July 2021 article in Guardian cited that "Britain plans to launch covert special forces operations against Russia and China" The RT reported that Royal Marines Brigadier Mark Totten revealed to the Times the UK Special Forces are about to concentrate on some new covert counter-state tasks with a focus on Russia and China. Totten said: The British Royal Marines are to take over some of the “traditional” roles of the nation’s special forces units – the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) – as they are preparing for some new “higher risk” counter-state tasks. Guardian reported that the most secretive parts of the British military are likely to get a new focus and a new remit that would involve countering Russia and other state actors through secret missions. Totten’s comments were a rare instance of a British military official openly admitting that London plans to deploy the UK Special Forces on covert missions specifically targeting Russia and China.

DATA:

16 Feb 2022 - Energy crunch: How the UK could play crucial role if Russia turned off gas taps to Europe

Sky's Ed Conway examines how Europe could cope in the event Russia decided to leave some of its biggest customers out in the cold and finds post-Brexit Britain could provide the solution...

That bring us to perhaps the most unexpected answer. That hole could be filled by Britain. The UK could send North Sea gas directly to Europe, through its pipelines, and then replenish its own gas network with LNG imported from the US, Qatar or other suppliers.

There are a couple of important reasons why the UK would end up as a supplier (or rather the pipeline) of last resort.


27 February 2022 - British foreign minister Liz Truss said on Sunday she would press for further measures against Russia, particularly in cutting off their oil and gas supplies, at a meeting with her counterparts in the G7 group of rich nations.

27 Feb 2022 - First Truss revealed her fears about western reliance on Russian energy supplies, saying: ‘Some European countries have 85% of their gas coming from Russia.

‘What we need to do is agree with our G7 counterparts to reduce that percentage over time.

‘I would support the idea of having ceilings on how much oil and gas is imported from Russia, so that over time we cut the dependency right across Europe. That is what we are working towards with our G7 partners.’

She went on: ‘The real objective is to degrade the Russian economy because what we know is Putin’s war machine is funded by revenues from oil and gas. So what we have to do is reduce dependency on oil and gas.’

2 March 2022 - UK gov study "Geopolitical implications of Nord Stream 2

The UK government position - part 4

Implications for Ukraine - Nord Stream 2 has implications for Ukraine. Although not a huge importer of Russian gas, Ukraine is a major transit country of current Russian gas pipelines into Europe. Transit fees are thought to account for almost 3% of Ukraine’s GDP, which will bring an expected revenue of $2-3 billion annually over the next five years.

2 March 2022 - Royal Navy divers create elite mission teams to meet evolving needs

3 March 2022 - We need to make sure the Russian economy is crippled - UK's Truss

The West needs to ensure the Russian economy is crippled so that President Vladimir Putin it is unable to continue his invasion of Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Thursday.

"We need to ... degrade the Russian economy," Truss said during a news conference in Lithuania. "We need to make sure ... that the Russian economy is crippled so it is unable to continue to fund Putin and the war machine."

4 March 2022 - Cutting the Cord: Ending Europe’s Energy Dependency on Russia 
                                   TONY BLAIR INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL CHANGE

As long as Europe remains heavily reliant on Russian energy, we have an Achilles heel.

With 40 per cent of the continent’s gas imports and 25 per cent of its oil imports coming from Russia, European countries urgently need a long-term plan to curb this dependency – especially if Putin remains on his current trajectory.

Such a plan requires urgent coordination between the EU and its partners to lay out both short-term measures and a longer strategic vision for greater energy security.

Our paper shows how this can be accomplished...

9 March 2022 - Truss: The Ukraine crisis is a wake-up call for free democracies.

I am in the US to take forward support for Ukraine, degrading the economy funding Putin’s war machine, and isolating Russia internationally: Putin must be held to account. Putin must fail in Ukraine. 
9 March 2022 - Truss: Met @SecBlinken and agreed more action is needed to hold Putin to account for his barbaric invasion of Ukraine. 

We must reduce dependency on Russian oil & gas, isolate Russia internationally, and keep supporting Ukraine  

10 March 2022 - UK foreign minister: Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a ‘paradigm shift on the scale of 9/11’

"If we are to persuade Putin and future Putins that we are serious, we need to do things differently."

First of all, we must end the strategic dependence which puts our economies and security at the risk and mercy of malign actors. 

Europe remains deeply reliant on Russian energy. This provides a vital source of revenue for Putin, and it must end.

...The fundamental driver of the Russian economy is oil and gas, and the absolute key has to be reducing dependency on oil and gas. And I recognize many European countries are very dependent.... 

24 March 2022 - Spoke to @WBHoekstra

...about further coordinated sanctions against Putin and those who support him. The Netherlands and UK will continue to firmly and swiftly impose crippling economic measures on Russia’s war machine. 

2 April 2022 - Truss: We cannot rest till Ukraine prevails and Vladimir Putin fails

AS the horror in Ukraine enters its seventh week, Britain is leading global efforts to ensure Vladimir Putin loses.

We have stepped up with our allies and partners to strengthen our Ukrainian friends in their fightback and to hit his regime where it hurts with sanctions. But we are not stopping there...

This is post-Brexit Global Britain in action — muscular, assertive and decisive at a time of global peril.  

4 April 2022 - Foreign Secretary to visit Poland to call for tougher action to tackle Russian aggression

Britain has helped lead the way with sanctions to cripple the Putin war machine. We will do more to ramp up the pressure on Russia and we will keep pushing others to do more. 

6 April 2022 - Truss: We're going further to cripple Putin’s war machine.

Today I have announced our toughest sanctions yet - targeting Russia's energy industry, as well as hitting more banks, businesses and oligarchs who are financing Russia's abhorrent crimes in Ukraine. 

6 April 2022 - Truss: The West must show Putin its collective strength: article by Liz Truss 

7 April 2022 - UK updates its energy security strategy 

7 April 2022 - Russia has brought barbarity and devastation to Ukraine.

I told @HouseofCommons that the UK must do everything we can to ensure Putin loses.

14 April 2022 -  Truss: NEW - UK sanctions Eugene Tenenbaum & David Davidovich, two key oligarchs and long-standing associates of Roman Abramovich.

Alongside #G7 and our partners, we will keep going with sanctions until Putin fails in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table

15 April 2022 - The Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF)

Admiral Sir Antony David Radakin, KCB, ADC, Chief of the Defence Staff
JEF recognises that the character of warfare has evolved, and the distinction between peace and war is not as clear as it once was.

The grey area this creates has allowed our adversaries to develop new ways of threatening us, and we recognise the need to counter this by protecting, engaging and constraining the threat.

We therefore see advantage in the JEF being able to take collective action below the traditional threshold of conflict, if necessary, before NATO declares Article V, in a complementary capacity to NATO. 

26 April 2022 - Liz Truss is ready to try and beat global aggressors at their own game 

27 April 2022 - Truss: The return of geopolitics: Foreign Secretary's Mansion House speech at the Lord Mayor's 2022 Easter Banquet

We now need a new approach, one that melds hard security and economic security, one that builds stronger global alliances and where free nations are more assertive and self-confident, one that recognises geopolitics is back.

Britain has always stood up to bullies. We have always been risk takers. So we are prepared be bold, using our strength in security and diplomacy, our economic heft, and our will and agility to lead the way...

Our sanctions have already seen Russia facing its first external debt default for a century. We need to go further. There must be nowhere for Putin to fund this appalling war. That means cutting off oil and gas imports once and for all.

27 June 2022 - We must ignore the defeatist voices who propose to sell out Ukraine: joint article by Liz Truss and Dmytro Kuleba

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote a joint article in The Telegraph about how to stop Putin's war in Ukraine.

It is therefore imperative that the G7 and NATO this week demonstrate that their commitment to Ukraine will never be surpassed by Putin’s determination to seize it. That means increasing and speeding up their supply of heavy weapons, continuing to sanction all those colluding in Putin’s war, and cutting off imports of Russian energy completely.

The UK is increasing its sanctions, with further legislation this week on a range of trade bans, and more to come over the next month. The free world, collectively, needs to bear down harder to cut Russia off from its key sources of foreign income: energy and other exports such as gold.

20 Sept 2022 - President @EmmanuelMacron and I are committed to working together to end reliance on Russian energy, deepening 🇬🇧🇫🇷 cooperation to reduce volatility in the market and cut costs for households.

Putin’s economic blackmail cannot and will not succeed. 

21 Sept 2022 - UK Prime Minister Truss addresses the United Nations General Assembly (transcript here)

01:00 min: "...Geopolitics is entering a new era.."

06:00 min: "We are cutting off the toxic power and pipelines from authoritarian regimes and strengthening our energy resilience."

"We will ensure we cannot be coerced or harmed by the reckless actions of rogue actors abroad."

"The free world needs this economic strength and resilience to push back against authoritarian aggression and win this new era of strategic competition.

We must do this together."

We are fortifying our deep security alliances in Europe and beyond through NATO and the Joint Expeditionary Force.


***

The planning phase started after Brexit 
and continued gradually

***

The main driver for UK is the Energy in/Security

***

On 26 September 2022, 
a series of underwater explosions and consequent gas leaks 
occurred on the Nord Stream 1 (NS1) 
and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) natural gas pipelines

***

RELATED POSTS:



OTHER UK RELATED POSTS

most of the research about UK´s role, motives has been conducted in 2023
The summary is here:




***

***
Uncovering the truth took over two years of self-funded, tireless investigation.
I decided to open it for free, no paywall, despite huge investment.
Because the truth matters.
Please consider supporting my work with a donation.

Every bit helps keep this mission alive!

(retweet and follow)

 

No comments:

Post a Comment