The Gas Wars, of which we translated a documentary “The Great Gas Game” – An Excellent Documentary from Vesti and published a number of articles, like The Third Gas War: EU and US must pay for their “successes” in Ukraine, the saga with Navalny, and the ultimate blowing up of the Nord Stream pipeline by the USA in order to freeze Germany out of competition, are just the recent manifistations. Lets us look at the events of 1982, and see how USA was opposing the gas pipeline from the USSR to the Western Europe.
We illustrate it through a series of caricatures and posts, which we originally published on out Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”.
Piped Piper of a Pipeline
Bill Mauldin’s caricature, published in the Chicago Sun-Times in 1982, shoes an issue that remains relevant for decades. It was drawn when the United States and Europe were at odds over the construction of the world’s first transcontinental gas pipeline Urengoy – Pomary – Uzhgorod.
The construction was colossal, the whole of the USSR contributing to it, with other interested countries taking part in it – Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the GDR. At first, it was planned to pull the gas pipeline from Yamburg, but later the Urengoyskoye field was chosen.
The United States, as always, tried to prevent the implementation of a project beneficial to Europe. But back then Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy still had a voice and teeth. And the sanctions imposed by the United States were quickly lifted.
Yuzhniigiprogaz Design Institute from Donetsk became the general designer of the gas pipeline. It had previously performed brilliantly in similar, albeit more modest projects.
The construction was completed ahead of schedule. On July 9, 1983, labour collectives reported on the commissioning of the integrated gas treatment plant No. 9.
👉 4,451 kilometers of steel pipe had been stretched to solve the ambitious task of supplying natural gas from Siberian fields to consumers in the USSR and European countries.
👉 2.7 million tons of pipes were laid during the construction of the gas pipeline.
👉 120 kilometers were laid through permafrost, 360 kilometers through swamps.
Gas went to Europe on January 13, 1984, making the USSR the leader in its production and sale.
A lot of cartoons appeared on the topic, no less biting on the Soviet side.
The facility built by the whole country later became the basis of political speculation of the state education called “Ukraine”.
Source: Our Donbass – edited
«The unfeasible dream of the overseas pirate»
This is the title of the caricature by Yuri Cherepanov, published in the November issue №31 of the Soviet satirical magazine «Krokodil» in 1982.
The pirate in question, sailing under the US flag, has «Threats» and «Sanctions» written on his sails.
40 years ago, Western Europe managed to stand up for its own intetrests. Now… the USA simply blew up the completed Nord Stream.
♦️♦️♦️
Initially, the project envisaged laying two strands of the gas pipeline in one corridor entirely using Western technologies, equipment and large diameter pipes (1,420 mm). However, after the 1981 administration of President Reagan imposed an embargo on the supply of high-tech American equipment to the USSR and Washington exerted pressure on Western European manufacturers who used components of American technologies, the Urengoy – Pomary – Uzhgorod gas pipeline project was revised. As a result, only one of its lines was laid partially using Soviet pipes and equipment.
The formal reason for the imposition of sanctions by the United States was accusations that the USSR took part in the “imposition of a state of emergency in Poland” on December 13 and repressions “against the Polish people.” In June 1982, the US authorities tightened the embargo, extending the ban not only to the products of American companies, but also to equipment manufactured by their branches abroad and foreign companies under American licenses.
This decision led to a conflict between the United States and its Western European allies. In July-August 1982, the West German, French, British, and Italian governments supported their manufacturers, declaring American sanctions illegal. After European companies supplied oil and gas equipment to the USSR in August 1982, the United States imposed special sanctions against them. As a result of negotiations with representatives of European governments, US President Ronald Reagan announced on November 13, 1982 the lifting of the embargo on the supply of oil and gas equipment to the USSR
In July 1981, a consortium of German banks led by Deutsche Bank and AKA Ausfuhrkredit GmbH provided a loan in the amount of 3.4 billion German marks for the construction of compressor stations. Later, loan agreements were signed with a group of French banks and the Export-Import Bank of Japan. In 1981-1982, contracts for the supply of compressors and pipes were signed with Creusot-Loire, John Brown Engineering, Nuovo Pignone, AEG-Telefunken, Mannesmann, Dresser Industries, Walter Kidde and Japan Steel Works. Pipelayers and bulldozers were purchased from Caterpillar and Komatsu, Liebherr and Kato cranes.
The construction of the Urengoy – Pomary – Uzhgorod gas pipeline was attended by working groups from the COMECON countries (GDR, PNR, Czechoslovakia and SFRY), many of which built the Soyuz main gas pipeline in the late 1970s.
Source: Russian Wiki
Cowboy against the gas pipe
Wielding the sword of «Antisovietism», the American cowboy is trying to cut over the gas pipe going to the Western Europe.
This 1982 caricature by Yuri Cherepanov comes with a handwritten title «He’s trying to stop it» and a newspaper clipping that a reader glued to the page some 40 years ago:
In recent years, Washington has literally become obsessed by the idea of sabotaging the «deal of the century» – «Gas — pipes», to strike a blow at the real manifestation of a detente in the economic sphere.
💥💥💥
Forty years later, explosives proved to be more effective for the USA when dealing with Western Europe’s misplaced desire to have economic security.
Overseas propaganda vs. Reality
Another caricature by Yuri Cherepanov, which appeared on page 10 of issue №1 of «Krokodil» in 1982. It is performed in the similar style as the one above, but here the «cowboy» is horrified by the fact that his propaganda of «Soviet threat» is dispelled by the clear reality, for the whole world to see.
Despite the attempts of the United States to intimidate its West German allies with the “Soviet threat”, a new, unprecedented long-term «Gas — Pipes» agreement has been concluded between the USSR and Germany.
«The particles of freedom», anno 1982
Let’s recall that before Biden outright blew up the Nord Stream gas pipeline, Trump tried to «wheel and deal» with Europe by offering it the American hydrocarbon «particles of freedom» instead of the «totalitarian» Russian gas. At a significant mark-up for the USA, of course.
Back in 1982 it didn’t go as far as blowing the Urengoy — Pomary — Uzgorod pipeline, but the USA had, nevertheless, some gas to offer. Of the military grade chemical kind.
This is the subject of the caricature drawn by N.Lisogorsky in the Soviet satirical magazine «Krokodil» issue № 08 of that year.
Western Europe looks in horror at the US apparition in hazardous materials suit, standing on her doorstep with a nerve gas container in its hands.
The «USSR — Western Europe» gas pipeline is already connected to her cosy Bavarian-like home, so she exclaims:
— No, no, I prefer natural gas..!