Codename “Taurus”. According to a media report, the former head of communications for the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2, Steffen Ebert, was a Stasi informer. He is considered the central liaison between Nord Stream 2 and the state government and Prime Minister Schwesig.
According to a media report, the former head of communications for the German-Russian Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2, which has been put on hold, was an unofficial Stasi employee (IM) in the 1980s. As the “Bild” newspaper (Saturday edition) reports, citing a file in the Stasi documents archive, Steffen Ebert, who has been in charge of communications for many years, committed himself to working with the GDR secret service in 1984. According to the report, Ebert confirmed his Stasi activity to the “Bild” newspaper.
Ebert told the “Bild” newspaper that, like “usually almost all” conscripts in the National People’s Army, he was “abused by the Stasi”. Today he regrets having passed on information about others to the Stasi.
In addition, Ebert, who is now 57, added that “like many people in the GDR, in my unsuspiciousness, I became a victim of the indoctrination of the system”. He therefore expects “that this will also be considered in the context of that time”. In 1987, Ebert, who had chosen the alias “Stier”, declined further IM work for “reasons of conscience” according to the “Bild” newspaper.
Citing internal emails, the newspaper further reports that Ebert is considered the central liaison from Nord Stream 2 to Manuela Schwesig (SPD) and the state government. He is said to have met the prime minister in person for the first time in November 2017 for a “getting to know each other” with Nord Stream 2 boss and ex-Stasi agent Matthias Warnig.
Nord Stream 2 was supposed to bring Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany, bypassing Ukraine. In view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the federal government had stopped the approval process for the pipeline project.
