German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 21/80, pp. 9520-9521.
Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen.
On September 26, 2022, the greatest assault on the economic infrastructure in the history of the Federal Republic was committed. Three of four strands of the Nordstream pipeline were exploded – critical infrastructure in which Germany and its partners had invested over 16 billion euros.
Today, in May 2026, we still have no conclusive explanation. We know only: Seven Ukrainians are under earnest suspicion, among whom is a Ukrainian former secret service man as operations leader, and a saboteur who previously received military training with the Bundeswehr – you heard right: German taxpayers have paid for the training of the man who later blew up German energy infrastructure. Thus appears Ukrainian gratitude and the short-sightedness of this government.
The Federal Court of Justice on December 10, 2025, in all clarity declared: The explosion was a violation of German rights of sovereignty. The pipelines were no legitimate military target, certainly after Germany had supported the Ukraine with weapons and billions of euros. The act occurred with a high likelihood – listen well, dear colleagues of the CDU – by state order, at least of the Ukraine and perhaps also of additional states. Period!
And the Federal government? Silence in the woods. I put a written, single question to the Federal government, quite simple: Have you requested an extradition of the five suspects to be found in the Ukraine? A question to be answered with yes or no. A question which any government which acts in the German interest, which does not understand itself to be Kiev’s marionette, would have answered with a clear yes. Yet the answer of Herr Wadephul’s ministry: Rejection, no information can be given on this.
Either the Federal government has never seriously demanded an extradition – or the Ukraine has rejected it. In both cases, ladies and gentlemen, it is a scandal which this Bundestag needs to clarify. Ladies and gentlemen, who does not answer such a question, he has something to hide. Who does not answer such a question, he does not serve Germany. Who does not answer such a question, he serves someone, but not the German citizens.
Who then in these days – and this is the last straw – proposes an associate membership in the EU for the Ukraine, a country at war, inclusive of EU assistance clauses, dear CDU/CSU, he serves a foreign country to which he can send his own children. As a father of two children, I distinctly say to you one thing: You don’t get my children!
Let us look at Warsaw: There, a court has quite knowingly set free one of the suspects. A provocation contrary to the state of law.
Alice Weidel (AfD): Absolutely!
Quote, Minister-president Tusk: “Europe’s problem…is not that Nordstream 2 was exploded, but that it was built.”
Irene Mihalic (Greens): So it is!
Ladies and gentlemen, it is unbearable that an EU partner approves of terrorism and sabotage against German infrastructure and that in this regard until today there is no clear reaction from Berlin.
This shows one thing quite clearly: In foreign policy, this government consists of servants of foreign interests.
Jürgen Hardt (CDU/CSU): This, the righteous says!
I promise you one thing: We will end this national self-abasement for which the CDU here in Germany has to answer.
Instead of demanding compensation from Kiev, instead of defending German interests, Chancellor Merz publicly excludes the re-start of the intact pipeline – a voluntary self-mortification. While German households today pay 80 percent more for gas, while our industry for this pays quadruple what American competitors pay, you sacrifice our energy sovereignty on the altar of unconditional loyalty to Ukraine. Germany has transferred 94 billion euros to the Ukraine since 2022, 55 billion euros for the military alone. For thanks, President Zelenskyi, to whom all of you here collectively in plenary session, with a non-parliamentary term for a designated body part, have crawled, according the Wall Street Journal, has quite personally approved the terror operation.
Alice Weidel (AfD): So!
Ladies and gentlemen, the question is no longer whether an investigative committee comes, the question is why you are afraid of this. You for years have left your own people in obscurity. You have taken care for the perpetrators’ business,
Jürgen Hardt (CDU/CSU): You stand on the side of Russia!
President Julia Klöckner: Your time has run out.
and undertaken as good as nothing to hunt the perpetrators. I promise you one thing:
President Julia Klöckner: Your time, regardless of promises, has run out.
You cannot still take up time.
The investigative committee will come at the latest after the next Bundestag election.
[trans: tem]
