GERMANY scrapped Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline today after President Vladimir Putin sent troops into the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine.

It was the first of a series of Western sanctions against Russia and was followed by British action against five Russian banks and three billionaires. 

"In light of the most recent developments, we must reassess the situation in particular regarding Nord Stream 2," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “The situation has fundamentally changed.”

The pipeline, which bypasses Ukraine, was completed in September 2021 but has been waiting for a certificate of approval from the German authorities.

Berlin had been placed under pressure from Washington, which opposes the project.

Mr Putin ordered the troop deployment  late on Monday after he agreed to recognise the breakaway regions as independent states.

The move followed appeals from separatist leaders, who feared a massacre of the 300,000 ethnic Russians that live there amid worsening border violence.

Mr Putin delivered a speech in justification of his decision, saying Russia had tried to abide by the Minsk agreement on ending the Donbass war — which would have given Donetsk and Lugansk autonomy within Ukraine — but this had failed.

He reiterated his claim that Ukrainian nationhood was a creation of Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik government, saying of Ukraine's policy of removing Soviet-era place names and statues: “Decommunisation suits us just fine… We'll show you what decommunisation in Ukraine means.” 

Both the Donetsk and Lugansk “people’s republics” declared independence from Ukraine in 2014 following the fascist-backed Maidan coup, which overthrew the democratically elected government of Kiev.

Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) general secretary Gennady Zyuganov welcome the decision to recognise the separatist states.

“These are really people’s republics, he said. Because they were born by the will of the people after the nazis … seized power in Kiev,” he said, referring to the 2014 coup.

He said that the people of Russia shared a bond with the Ukrainian people.“Genuine Ukraine has always gone down in history with Russia. We have a common faith, common victories, a common language, a common culture, common traditions,” he said.

On Monday, “the first extremely important step was taken towards peace,” the communist leader insisted, saying Russian troops’ deployment was an answer to the 130,000 Ukrainian troops massed just 30 miles from the Donbass.

“They were gathered together there in order to arrange a provocation and massacre there,” he said.