U.S. Wants Nord Stream 2 Halted If Putin Were to Invade Ukraine
North Stream 2 is not going to hold Putin back from grabbing Ukraine if he considers that this is in his best interest. Ukraine is way more important for Russia than just a pipeline. Wanna know what holds Putin back? I am pretty sure that Putin knows by now what the price for Crimea was. Not the international dimension of it – no – the national one. He needs to keep Crimeans sweet to show them that being Russians is better than being Ukrainians. This costs him massive money he does not really have. So he needs to explain to Russians why they go hungry for a piece of land.