Germany opened its first state-chartered liquefied natural gas vessel as Europe’s largest economy races to replace Russian gas amid an energy crunch and freezing temperatures.
“As of today, Germany and the EU will become a great deal more secure and independent,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a short speech Saturday in Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea coast to mark the inauguration.
Scholz said Russian President Vladimir Putin, in pursuing the invasion of Ukraine, calculated that he could pressure Germany and the rest of Europe by making energy a political weapon and cutting off gas supplies.
