AUSTRALIA’ S UKRAINIAN COMMUNITY CALLS ON CHANCELLOR MERKEL TO BE AN INTERNATIONAL GAME-CHANGER – STOP NORD STREAM 2 PIPELINE
Australia’s Ukrainian community is joining an international campaign sending a strong message to German Chancellor Merkel to take immediate measures to halt all construction on the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline (NS2).
This will send a strong message to President Putin that economics, human rights, aggression in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea are interconnected. Some values and principles cannot be bought.
Why protest in Australia? Because the values, principles and aspirations of the international community have no borders.
Some facts
- The primary responsibility for cancelling the NS2 rests with Chancellor Merkel, who has so far resisted calls from the EU Parliament and many Western nations.
- Chancellor Merkel MUST withdraw from this politically ruinous agreement which threatens Ukraine’s security, as well as that of the EU.
- NS2 is the most powerful bargaining chip that the West has to force Putin to move his forces out of eastern Ukraine, agree to a peaceful resolution and free Navalny.
- The NS2 pipeline is not needed for Germany’s or Europe’s energy security – existing pipelines running through Ukraine are sufficient to meet future gas demands.
- The NS2 pipeline will only deliver 20% of gas to Germany – 80% will go to Austria to replace gas from Ukraine.
- From its very inception, the NS2 pipeline had a principal political purpose, rather than a commercial one – to supplant gas running through Ukraine’s pipelines.
- There is solid bipartisan support from the US Congress and many nations within the EU (Poland, Moldova and Slovakia) and the UK, Canada and Sweden calling for the cancellation of the NS2 pipeline.
“Putin constantly violates our international values and principles. His last attempt to escalate the land and sea presence around Ukraine was another act of hybrid and psychological pressure. A strong message needs to be sent to say STOP. Stopping NS2 is one of the most potent ways of doing this,” Stefan Romaniw, Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations Co-chair, said.
Ukrainian community representatives in Melbourne and Sydney will meet representatives of the Republic of Germany on Friday, April 30, 2021, to present signed letters to Chancellor Merkel calling on Germany to cancel the NS2 project. The AFUO will send its letter to the Ambassador of Germany in Canberra.
In a joint statement, Ukrainian Council of NSW President Bohdan Wolodymyriw and Association of Ukrainians in Victoria President Slawko Kohut said, “Whilst we are 20,000 km
away, we are expressing our urgent call to Chancellor Merkel that she can be an international game-changer in pressing for peace in Ukraine and confronting Putin by sending a message. No NS2 – it is time to play by the rules.”
For further information contact Stefan Romaniw 0419 31255.