
THE SHELL LEAKS FILES — 18 OCTOBER 2026
SLF-2007-091
The Sakhalin Papers LXXXI: The Pipeline That Refuses to Die — Shell’s Gazprom Partnership, a Former Stasi Officer and the American Plans to Revive Nord Stream
Nine years after Shell helped finance Nord Stream 2, and four years after explosions crippled the Baltic pipelines, an extraordinary new chapter is unfolding. On 8 October 2026, Reuters reported discussions involving senior American and Russian figures about bringing US investors into the Nord Stream infrastructure. The reported participants included Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Kirill Dmitriev, a close adviser to Vladimir Putin. Germany immediately reiterated its opposition. Then, on 17 October, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak declared that restoring gas supplies through Nord Stream remained technically possible. Behind these developments lies a remarkable documentary trail: Shell’s original 2017 financing agreement, former East German intelligence officer Matthias Warnig’s leadership of Nord Stream 2, American sanctions, a $1.126 billion Shell write-down, Swiss restructuring proceedings and an increasingly complicated battle with European regulators.



























