Schwesig admits mistakes in Russia policy for the first time | NDR.de – News

At the first press conference after her six-week break due to illness, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) admitted for the first time that she had made mistakes in her Russia policy. From today’s perspective, both the support for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and the establishment of the state’s climate protection foundation MV were wrong, said Schwesig on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting. According to the SPD politician, what seemed right at the time has now turned out to be wrong. “And I also made this mistake,” she made clear when asked.

“Dialogue even with difficult partners”

The climate protection foundation set up with the backing of the state parliament in 2020 helped to advance the construction of Nord Stream 2 against the threat of US sanctions through covert deals last year. The foundation is now to be dissolved. However, Schwesig did not want to call the dialogue between the state government and the partner region of the Leningrad region, which has since been discontinued, retrospectively wrong. It is always important to stay in touch, even with difficult partners, said Schwesig. It is of course “bitter” that this dialogue was destroyed by Putin’s “brutal attack” against Ukraine. Putin is a “war criminal,” said Schwesig.

Schwesig: Not involved

Schwesig went on to say that the state government and state parliament had decided that this should act independently. That is why her state government had no influence on the work of the foundation. The board of the foundation, led by ex-prime minister Erwin Sellering (SPD), should have taken care of that.

Greens warn of supervision by the Ministry of Justice

The Greens in the state parliament again criticized a lack of supervision by the state’s Ministry of Justice over the foundation, which had received 200,000 euros from the state and 20 million euros from the Nord Stream 2 consortium. The foundation had already supported the construction of the pipeline “before the state had even provided the foundation with capital,” explained Constanze Oehlrich, the spokeswoman on legal policy for the state parliamentary group, regarding the unresolved questions from her point of view. It is still unclear how the foundation financed its activities. The CDU parliamentary group has now brought up a parliamentary committee of inquiry in order to be able to examine the work of the foundation.

Further information

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