Since 1949, East Germany under Soviet rule to (see below) present day East Germany and links to the Russian oil pipeline which instigated the building of refineries e.g. Schwedt on border with Polandwelt-atlas.de
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germans have never achieved parity with West German wealth generation. Disgruntled East Germans have raised the profile of right wing AfD political beliefs.
Initially, the AfD distanced itself from far-right parties in neighbouring countries. However, successive leadership changes between 2015 and 2017 saw the party adopt a more hardline position, particularly on immigration, Islam and national identity. By 2016, its platform had largely aligned with those of populist radical right parties elsewhere…….Additionally, the party upholds the white, nuclear family as an ideal and has pledged to dismiss university professors accused of promoting “leftist, woke gender ideology”. The party also calls for the immediate lifting of sanctions against Russia and opposes weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine led to blocking flow of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline to the refineries in East Germany, and they, consequently, were forced to shut down, leading to high unemployment. This led to anger and disagreement with the leading German political party led by Olaf Scholz.
Feeling fed up and ignored by mainstream parties, many in what was East Germany have flocked to the far right – with the AfD picking up more than 38% of the vote in one state.
Moscow, Berlin, and Washington are discussing the resumption of raw material supplies to Germany at Rosneft’s refineries. This could be an argument for a ceasefire with UkraineДоступно на русском
Visit of German government commissioner for Eastern affairs Carsten Schneider to the Schwedt refinery in summer 2024 / Patrick Pleul / dpa
The authorities of Germany, Russia, and the USA are discussing the resumption of oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline to Germany, investigators from the Correctiv publication, with the participation of IStories, have found out.
For this purpose, American firms will buy out Rosneft Deutschland’s, a German subsidiary of Rosneft, share (54.17%) in the oil refinery PCK in the city of Schwedt near the German-Polish border, say sources familiar with the negotiations.
The PCK refinery was launched back in the GDR in 1961 and, before the full-scale war in Ukraine, was supplied with raw materials from Russia via Druzhba. Its capacity is 11.5 million tons of oil per year; the company reports that 9 out of 10 cars in Berlin and Brandenburg today are filled with gasoline made by the Schwedt refinery.
In September 2022, the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz took the refinery under temporary management and planned to nationalize it. Since then, the plant has been supplied via a backup pipeline and the same Druzhba with raw materials from the ports of Rostock and Gdansk, as well as in transit through Russia from Kazakhstan. However, alternative routes have been less profitable from the very beginning.
In addition, since the sabotage of Nord 2, there is a suggestion it may get repaired and if so, restore gas supplies.
The billionaire brothers, Arkady Rotenberg and Boris Rotenberg,who owned the largest construction company for gas pipelines in Russia, are looking to repair the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Laying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, November 2018. Photo: Bernd Wüstnek / dpa / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
IStories has noticed several indirect signs that Russia is preparing to restore the Nord Stream pipelines. And although experts are still skeptical about such a possibility, this is indicated, in particular, by the activity of a company that previously processed pipes for these pipelines — it may be linked to Arkady Rotenberg and former top managers of Gazprom, who are now suspected of siphoning off its assets to the tune of 150 billion rubles.
Moscow, Berlin, and Washington are discussing the resumption of raw material supplies to Germany at Rosneft’s refineries. This could be an argument for a ceasefire with Ukraine
as well as the EU, imposed sanctions against Arkady Rotenberg. U.S. authorities blocked the assets of SMP Bank for at least $65 million. Besides, his assets and the luxurious property was arrested in Italy. In 2017, Russian journalists found out that Arkady Rotenberg systematically evades sanctions. According to the investigation, Rotenberg re-registers his assets and property in Europe to proxies from among the former top managers of his companies. Rotenberg is one of the Russian oligarchs named in the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.
Russia depends on funding his war machine with sales of oil and gas and has been hit by sanctions by the US to reduce the sales to countries like Germany, who themselves had to close their supplies in protest to the invasion of Ukraine.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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