The Nord Stream 2 pipeline may soon come under American control – courtesy of Stephen P. Lynch, a pro-Trump entrepreneur with extensive business ties to Russia and the post-Soviet sphere.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Florida businessman intends to purchase the remnants of the unused pipeline, now lying at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, at an upcoming bankruptcy auction in Switzerland.
“The bottom line is this: This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for American and European control over European energy supply for the rest of the fossil-fuel era,” Lynch said in an interview.
Once owned by a bankrupt subsidiary of Gazprom, the 1,230-kilometer pipeline has the capacity to transport approximately 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Siberia to Western Europe. Although completed shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, operations never commenced due to Western sanctions against Moscow. Further complicating matters, explosions in September 2022 destroyed one of its two lines, leaving the other intact but unused.
According to persons acquainted with the subject, Lynch has stated that he believes he can purchase Nord Stream 2, which has been valued at around $11 billion. According to him, a lot of investors will not place a bid due to the intricate geopolitics involved with the conduit, and the other bidders will probably be Chinese companies, Russian proxies, or other parties who are opposed to American interests.
Lynch’s LinkedIn profile highlights his journey as the founder of Monte Valle Partners, established after Russia’s 1998 financial crisis to acquire distressed real estate. In 2000, he secured a 58-hectare plot near Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport, later selling it in 2007. Though he retained a minority stake as an operational partner, the project was eventually sold to the Russian government and integrated into the airport infrastructure.
In 2022, Lynch acquired the Swiss branch of Sberbank, bypassing Western sanctions through a special license issued by the U.S. Treasury. His name has also been linked to allegations of auction manipulation involving assets from Yukos, the dismantled Russian oil giant, although the charges were dismissed in 2019.
As a prominent donor to Republican campaigns, Lynch could leverage support from the Trump administration to facilitate the acquisition. But his proposal appears to resonate across party lines. “The Biden administration and incoming Trump administration should be able to agree on this,” noted Lee Wolosky, a former advisor to President Biden and friend of Lynch. “His background as an American investor who has navigated Russia adeptly makes him well-suited to lead the effort.”
With the pipeline’s debt restructuring deadline looming in January, failure to reach an agreement could lead to its liquidation, potentially attracting buyers less aligned with Western interests. Lynch’s goal is to preempt such a scenario by transforming Nord Stream 2 into a diplomatic asset in future negotiations between Moscow and the West.
