Matthias Warnig

Matthias Warnig (born 26 July 1955) is a German business executive, and the managing director (CEO) of Nord Stream AG, a company for the construction and operation of the Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany. He is a former officer in the Stasi.

Matthias Warnig

Warnig, "an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin" and Nordstream AG were under US sanctions but the Biden administration lifted those in May 2021.[1]

Biography

He was born on 26 July 1955 in Altdöbern, Lower Lusatia, East Germany.

In 1974 Warnig started his career at the Stasi, the secret police of communist East Germany.[2][3] Warnig allegedly worked with KGB officer Vladimir Putin. The two men collaborated on recruiting West German citizens for the KGB.[2] Warnig, however, has denied this by saying that they met for the first time in 1991, when Putin was the head of the Committee for External Relations of the Saint Petersburg Mayor's Office.[4][5]

Warnig had apparently spied on Dresdner Bank AG in West Germany before he began to work in the bank.[6]

Dresdner Bank attempted to get a banking operating license in Saint Petersburg, where Putin was now in charge of foreign economic relations. Warnig took part in negotiations. The office was opened in 1991.[7][8] Warnig became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dresdner Bank ZAO, Dresdner Bank Russian's subsidiary. In 2004–05, the bank advised on the controversial forced sale of Yukos assets (see Yukos shareholders v. Russia).[2]

References
  1. Andrea Shalal; Timothy Gardner; Steve Holland (19 May 2021). "U.S. waives sanctions on Nord Stream 2 as Biden seeks to mend Europe ties". Reuters. Retrieved 16 November 2021. The Biden administration waived sanctions on the company behind Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany and its chief executive [...] State Department report sent to Congress concluded that Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO, Matthias Warnig, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, engaged in sanctionable activity. But Blinken immediately waived those sanctions
  2. Nord Stream, Matthias Warnig (codename "Arthur") and the Gazprom Lobby Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 114
  3. Eine Stasi-Karriere. Deutsche Landwirte
  4. "Report Links Putin to Dresdner". The St. Petersburg Times. 2005-03-01. Archived from the original on 2008-06-13. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  5. "Matthias Warnig: "In Russia you need a lot of patience"". Die Welt am Sonntag. Nord Stream AG. 2007-01-14. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  6. "Dresdner's Man in Russia". Wall Street Journal Europe. April 26, 2005.
  7. Macrakis, Kristie (2014). Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's spy-tech world. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-183-9.
  8. Report Links Putin to Dresdner Archived 2008-06-13 at the Wayback Machine St. Petersburg Times
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