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Poland deserves apology from EU, US over Nord Stream 2: ex-US ambassador

11.03.2022 11:15
Former US ambassador to Poland has said that the European Union and the United States owed Poland an apology for not realising the effects of striking trade deals with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Georgette Mosbacher.
Georgette Mosbacher.PAP/Marcin Obara

Georgette Mosbacher made the declaration in an interview with the interia.pl website on Thursday, the state PAP news agency reported.

The ex-diplomat was asked if it took a war to realise that projects such as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, designed to carry Russian gas directly to Germany, gave Moscow strategic advantage. 

Mosbacher agreed: “It seems that a bloody war had to break out in the heart of Europe so that some – especially Germany – would realise the consequences tied to trade deals with Moscow.” 

She noted: “At the beginning of 2022, about 20% of energy in Europe came from Russia. How could this be allowed?”

The former ambassador expressed disbelief that the West approved “a joint gas pipeline with a politician annexing Crimea and Donbass.”

'Poland deserves apology'

Mosbacher hailed Poland as “the most important country in the region that coordinates humanitarian policy and the transport of weapons to Ukraine.”

She added: “You are, in the full sense of the word, the eastern flank of NATO – a key element of the continent’s security architecture.” 

Referring to Poland’s dispute with the EU over the rule of law, Mosbacher stressed that “ much of what reached the West was the result of Russian disinformation. Both the Union and America accepted it uncritically.”

The former ambassador added: “Poland has problems with the courts, but I believe this is a transitional stage. If it were as bad as it is portrayed in Brussels, American companies would not be investing billions of dollars on the Vistula River.”

“I believe that Poland deserves an apology. On the part of the EU and the USA,” Mosbacher stressed.

“You have been smarter than us in many ways,” she stated.

It came as the Russian assault on Ukraine raged for the sixteenth day.

Poland on Friday reported it had admitted 1,52 million people escaping the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(pm)

Source: PAP, interia.pl