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Welt: Gazprom donated 192 million euros to the German ‘Climate Foundation’

Once again, the so-called Climate Foundation in Germany had to reveal sensitive key data about its business activities, according to a report by Welt am Sonntag. They show how generous the Kremlin’s Gazprom company was in using the foundation to complete the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea.

More and more details are coming to light about the financial dependence of the Schwerin-based Stiftung Klima- und Umweltschutz MV on the Russian state company Gazprom. The foundation, which was set up by the local government (s.s. of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern which is ruled by an alliance of the SPD and the party of the Left under SPD’s Manuela Svesich) early last year, had created a “financial business enterprise ” especially for the completion of the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline. This business received a total of EUR 192 million from the Gazprom subsidiary Nord Stream 2 AG. The foundation has now informed Welt am Sonntag of the amount. Previously, the Schwerin District Court had ordered her to provide such information several times.

According to the foundation, the EUR 192 million transfer spans from February to November 2021, with Nord Stream 2 transporting around EUR 87 million to Schwerin in May 2021 alone. The funds benefited 80 service providers, including 119 contracts amounting to 165 million euros were awarded from the “economic business operation”. Twenty-two of these contracts were worth one million euros or more.

The Prime Minister of the state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania Manuela Schwesig (SPD) has been facing serious accusations for months because of the establishment of the foundation. He had politically promoted the structure against the resistance of some members of the then federal government. Critics accuse the SPD politician of allowing a takeover of her cabinet by the Russian state to circumvent US sanctions imposed against the construction of the pipeline. That’s why, they say, Schwesig used the label of climate protection as a fig leaf.

Figures on the “financial business activities” of the Climate Foundation, which have now been submitted to the editors of Welt, show that an unusually large amount of money has flowed in. This company, the independent division of the institution which operates under strict secrecy, has received commissions from the Gazprom subsidiary to the amount of 15 million euros. Based on earnings that are common in the industry, this equates to a significant return on sales. If it serves the Kremlin, which wanted to complete the construction of the pipeline at all costs, there is obviously no saving.

In order to clarify suspicions of manipulation, the Schwerin state parliament has set up a commission of inquiry which wants to hear the first witnesses after the summer holidays. In addition to the head of government Schwesig, Gazprom lobbyist and former chancellor Gerhard Schröder as well as Putin confidant and head of NS2-AG Matthias Warnig will have to face questions from MPs. Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz are also expected to be invited. The former chancellor and her former finance minister were informed of the foundation plan by Schwesig no later than December 2020.

MPs also want to shed light on the role Russian intelligence may have played behind the scenes. Schwesig’s current interior minister, Christian Pegel (SPD), is at the center of interest. The lawyer once played a key role in shaping the foundation’s charter when he was energy minister.

Pagel met with representatives of Russia’s NS2 AG under seemingly conspiratorial circumstances without keeping records. Therefore, it is no longer possible to trace the agreements and arrangements made. Pagel, in turn, claims that he no longer knows what exactly happened at that moment. Through his spokesman, the minister told this newspaper: “In terms of his involvement in informal or formal talks, he has no specific recollections due to the passage of time.

From the Schwerin state government’s point of view, the deal with Gazprom subsidiary NS2 AG appears in retrospect to be a brilliant business. At the end of July, the “financial enterprise” still had 14 million euros in its coffers. The amount will become larger. The company, which is in liquidation, still wants to sell the special vessel “Blue Ship” worth 18 million euros. So there will be a lot of “bloody money” left. This is what the millions are sometimes called – and by a legal expert advising on the dissolution of the institution – because of their origin.

Source: Capital

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