The executive director of Nord Stream 2 AG, Matthias Warnig, gave his first big interview for the Zeit newspaper from his apartment in the Canaries. He spoke about a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022.
“What are your goals?” he asked Putin in German, the language in which they conducted the entire conversation.
“You are talking about Donetsk and Lugansk, at the same time your troops are at Kiev. How is this consistent? Do you need Odessa or Kharkiv or the whole of Ukraine, or even more?” asked Warnig.
Putin replied: “This is a state secret.”
The Russian leader offered the director of Nord Stream 2 to move with his family to the Russian capital, but he refused.
In the spring, Putin invited Warnig to visit him “for real” for a few days, but he “hasn’t decided yet.”