The US insists that sanctions against NS2 will "undermine united front in response to Russia." Ukraine's - frontline's! - stance is not taken into account.
NS2 is not a deterrent. On the contrary, it's an incentive for Putin to further attack Ukraine /1 reuters.com/markets/commod…
Why? 1) Putin needs Russian gas to flow to Europe; 2) Ukrainian transmission system is a route of largest capacity. It's well operational & maintained; 3) the fear to damage it & lose gas revenues/ Euro market in longer persp ties Putin in his further actions in Ukraine; /2
4) now Putin has little doubt that NS2 will be working. To speed up the process he is interested in crashing Ukraine & our pipeline. He presumes that in case UA system is destroyed NS2 will not be stopped: Europe won't have much other gas routes available; /3
5) the only real deterrent against Putin would be to #StopNordStream2 once and for all -- now. While Putin is still making final benefit-risk calculations for further invasion.
& this is not the only reason why this geopolitical kleptocratic project should be ended /4
Leaving geopolitical debates aside, human dimension of the Russia's looming large-scale invasion is rarely discussed. But it would affect the lives of tens of millions. In and beyond Ukraine
Small thread /1
#UkraineWillResist: 1/3 of Ukrainians are ready to take up weapons if Russia further invades. We will eventually kick Russians out - but at what price?
Ukraine has been mourning deaths of every defender Russia had killed over last 8 years. These are our best & bravest people /2
Large-scale invasion would destroy critical infrastructure and cause severe humanitarian catastrophe. It would be amplified by covid & blackouts amidst winter cold /3
Just one more piece to add to this picture. Ukraine has long been a target to Russian propaganda. But media watchdogs noticed that disinfo which particularly hits hard on reforms & demonizes Western partners who had advocated them has intensified over last years 1/4
Such propaganda advances a key narrative of Ukraine being a failed state governed from overseas. It tries to convince people the reforms eventually have a single goal which is to allow foreigners to grab as many UA strategic assets/ enterprises/ land/ whatever as possible 2/4
Just take a look at this one blatant example. And that's the show, broadcasted in prime time on the most popular news channel Ukrayina24 which belongs to Akhmetov: kyivpost.com/article/opinio… 3/4