The sum being sought by a right-wing German MP is equal to the amount Warsaw demands from Berlin for damages incurred during World War II
A right-wing German politician has claimed that Poland should compensate Germany for “complicity” in the 2022 explosions that took the Nord Stream gas pipelines out of operation.
The amount referenced by Kay Gottschalk, an MP from the opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, aligns with the €1.3 trillion in World War II compensation Warsaw previously demanded from Berlin.
Gottschalk posted on X Wednesday that “1.3 trillion euros should suffice as reparations for complicity in the Nord Stream sabotage.”
German authorities have attributed the sabotage that severely damaged the pipelines — which carried Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea — to a small group of Ukrainian nationals. Poland has rejected a German extradition request for a key suspect in the case.
In November, AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla told broadcaster ZDF that while Russia poses no immediate threat to Germany, neighboring Poland could conceivably become one. He cited the “current moral double standards” shown by the Polish government in refusing to hand over a Ukrainian “terrorist” to German authorities.
Last October, the Warsaw District Court ruled that Berlin’s extradition request for attack suspect Vladimir Zhuravlyov was “unfounded.” The judge argued at the time: “blowing up critical infrastructure during a war… is not sabotage but denotes a military action.”
A month earlier, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported that Warsaw — one of Kiev’s staunchest supporters since 2022 — allegedly considered granting asylum to the Ukrainian national. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has publicly backed the idea.
Last Thursday, Germany’s Federal Court of Justice published a December 10 ruling stating the Nord Stream explosions were likely an “intelligence service” operation ordered by a foreign government.
Russian officials have repeatedly expressed deep skepticism about Berlin’s account of events, noting that a small group of Ukrainian saboteurs could not have carried out such a sophisticated operation in NATO-controlled waters without direct state assistance.