[q1w2]

Germany was where Putin was stationed for decades - that's why he speaks fluent German and spends a disproportionate amount of time on German politics. His penetration of German politics makes US politics in 2016 look like test run.

Putin successfully convinced the Germans to abandon nuclear power and then pay him to build a dedicated pipeline into Germany - making all of Europe more dependent on Russia.

...and Germans fell for it. There must be dozens, if not hundreds of Russian operatives in German political offices.

[tut-urut-utut]

If that was the case how do you explain that that pipeline never went live?

If Russia is so influential in Germany how do you explain Germany importing expensive environmentaly damaging LNG from the USA instead of the cheap Russian environmentally friendly natural gas?

[jononor]

Explanation: The Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022 caused European politicians and population to understand that Russia does not have positive intentions with its collaboration with other nations. This the influence Russia is able to have (at least overtly).