Merkel’s warning: “Russia does not use the NordStream 2 pipeline as a weapon”

BERLIN – He didn’t mean to irritate Vladimir Putin, on her last tour abroad as chancellor. So Angela Merkel planned the trip to the Kremlin before the official visit to Kiev. But after yesterday’s face to face with the Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelensky, the chancellor stressed that Nordstream 2 should not be used as a geopolitical lock pick, like “a weapon”.