DISINFO: Russia has never used its energy supplies as a weapon
SUMMARY
Despite attempts to politicise a project favourable to Europeans, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will soon be operational. [...] Russia has never used its energy supplies as a weapon and will not do so in the future.
RESPONSE
Repeated pro-Kremlin disinformation related to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Despite what is stated in the disinformation claim, in the past, Russia used its energy resources multiple times as a weapon against other countries attempting them to coerce these countries to follow a pro-Kremlin line.
This case is part of the Kremlin's disinformation campaign about European energy policy and the discussion about the role of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The Kremlin’s use of energy coercion began even before the USSR dissolved in December 1991. Russian energy companies, presumably with the Kremlin’s blessing, have made multiple attempts over the past 30 years to use energy supplies to advance Moscow’s strategic priorities. Events in Ukraine both in 2009 and in 2014 are two cases in point, while another example can be observed in Lithuania. Russia has a long track record of using gas export to Belarus as a political tool.
More cases concerning European energy issues including Europe catastrophically lacks gas; the US wants to completely capture the European gas market and the US would like to resell Russian gas to Europe.