Matthias Warnig, CEO of gas pipeline operator Nord Stream 2 Nord Stream 2 AG, will step down at the end of March. On this subject informed Interfax with reference to the company’s statement.
“Nord Stream 2 truly recognizes and appreciates the outstanding leadership and invaluable contribution of Matthias Warnig throughout the long and difficult journey of building a major cross-border energy supply infrastructure and wishes him the best of luck in all his future endeavours”, indicates the message.
In future, the activities of Nord Stream 2 AG will be managed by a steering committee headed by the administrator of Transliq AG.
Matthias Warnig is 67 years old. From 2006 to 2015, he was Managing Director of Nord Stream AG, which was created to design, build and operate Nord Stream, and then he led Nord Stream 2 AG. Until May 2022, Warnig also served on the board of directors of Transneft and Rosneft, but eventually left both companies.
The day before Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and Matthias Warnig, freezing their assets and isolating them from the dollar system.
In February 2023, the UK Foreign Office reported that London had imposed restrictions on Warnig. In a statement issued by the British authorities approved that he is a “close friend” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In January, in an interview with Zeit, Warnig said that after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, he personally communicated with Putin. According to the head of Nord Stream 2 AG, he tried to make the head of state understand that he had to complete the military operation. According to a German newspaper, no one in the West has a closer relationship with Vladimir Putin than Matthias Warnig. They have met several times since the 1990s, hunting, fishing and hiking together, the publication notes.
Nord Stream 2 consists of two strings with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters. m per year, which go along the bottom of the Baltic Sea through the territories of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Construction of the pipeline was completed in September 2021, but it has not been put into service.
In February 2022, Germany suspended certification of the pipeline after Russia recognized the independence of the DNR and LNR. In September 2022, three lines of Nord Stream 2 and Nord Stream 1 were damaged by explosions.
