Germany suspends Nord Stream 2 certification

The German authorities have decided to stop the certification of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

Scholz instructed the Ministry of Economy to contact the regulator.

"Today I asked the Federal Ministry of Economics to withdraw the report on energy security from the Federal Network Agency,” the Chancellor said. Olaf Scholz pointed out that Germany had to make "a necessary step so that the certification of the gas pipeline could no longer take place."

Earlier, Ukrainian President Zelensky announced the need to completely shut down Nord Stream 2.

EU plans no draconian sanctions against Russia

At the same time, however, the European Union does not plan to impose stringent sanctions that could cause maximum damage to Russia. The scale of the restrictions that the EU currently prepares against Moscow was revealed by one of the diplomats familiar with the discussion, RIA Novosti reports.

Most likely, the EU will refuse from the idea to take most stringent measures against Russia, and the new sanctions will be no more serious than those adopted in 2014.

"They consider a package of sanctions that still remain within the scope of the 2014 sanctions package,” the source said.

Reuters, citing a representative of the EU, earlier reported that the EU could impose sanctions against hundreds of Russians due to Moscow's recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR). In addition, according to the agency, the EU considers restricting Russian government bonds trading.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognising the DPR and LPR on February 21. According to him, this decision was made due to the fact that Kiev "is trying to organise a blitzkrieg in the Donbass again, as it already happened in 2014 and 2015."