The pipe line will transport Russian gas to customers in Western Europe. It will start in Vyborg and finish at the other end of the Baltic Sea in Greifswald. Several things (environmental, security related- and political) made governments in the other Baltic Sea countries hesitant before giving the final acceptance to build it.
Others claim that according to international agreements, it was not possible to say no to the pipe line. This was also the reason to why the Swedish government finally gave clearance.
- No serious Swedish government would break against international agreements by saying no said Minister for Environment Andreas Carlgren in 2009 according to Svenska dagbladet.
The Wikileaks documents which come from american diplomatic reports, show that Moscow had decided to build the pipe line no matter what. They used intelligence officers to monitor the resistance against the pipe line in order to evaluate strategies to fight the resistance. The documents also show that Russia closed the gas delieveries through Ukraine in 2009 as a way to create opinion for the pipe line in the west where customers lost their gas supply.
Read also:
Swedish concern about Russian / German pipeline
Discussions about the route of the pipeline
Former politival employees now on other side in the 'hot pipline question'
Go ahead for Russo-German gas pipe line