Tough western sanctions on Russia may be squeezing the economy – but that’s only half the story. The other half you can understand better by attending a public hearing into a project that will finance the Putin regime for another 50 years.

The project is called Nord Stream 2. It involves piping gas directly from Russia to Germany through the Baltic sea, and it is unaffected by sanctions. Its progress means that Europe is excoriating the Putin regime diplomatically while at the same time promising to inflate the same regime with billions of gas dollars.

I recently participated in a public hearing on Nord Stream 2 at the Estonian environment ministry.Company officials gave a two-hour presentation full of touching photos of seals and fish, and we heard how beautiful and safe this project is. Five European companies are involved but for some mysterious reason, 100% of the shares belong to Gazprom.

But this is just the first of a litany of questions about this controversial project. Nord Stream 2 was concluded after the annexation of Crimea by Putin’s Russia, the war against Ukraine, and the shooting down over Ukraine of the MH17 passenger plane. European consumers will pay for the gas, and the money will go to the Putin regime, strengthening it. There is a high probability that, as usual, the Kremlin will spend the proceeds on propaganda, repression, new wars, and annexations – and Europe will be paying for it.

A Nord Stream representative brushed off these concerns, saying it was all “political speculation … we have already been working with Gazprom for 19 years and are going to continue mutually beneficial cooperation”.

Secondly, the project is being implemented with the ink barely dry on the Paris climate deal, in which almost every country appeared to recognise the dangers of fossil fuels. But here is a project that plans to significantly increase the supply of a fuel that damages the climate. To this objection, Nord Stream claimed that the project is not dangerous for the climate because gas is not as bad as coal.How can you shout about the transition to renewable, environmentally safe energy and at the same time make plans to increase gas flows into Europe? Thirdly, even before it has begun, the Nord Stream 2 project has already brought problems to Russia. Within Russian territory, it was decided to run the pipeline through Kurgalskii refuge. This decision is technically illegal as the area is designated a special nature zone with rare species including eagles, ringed seals, and many others protected by Russian law.

Russian authorities have initiated the process of altering the boundaries of Kurgalskii refuge in order to drive the gas pipeline through it. Surveying work began illegally in the area without any permits, but ceased after ecologists protested. In contrast, if there is to be a pipeline through a natural area on German territory it is to be built in a tunnel.Then there is the matter of personalities. Matthias Warnig, a former Stasi member turned banker and a close friend of Putin, is CEO of Nord Stream and is also on the board of two huge Russian companies: Vneshtorgbank and the oil company Rosneft.

The Nord Stream representatives at the hearing said that in the company it is not customary to look up biographies of senior staff and so they do not know who has worked where previously. But how do they hire employees at all, if they are not interested in their previous work?

Nord Stream 2 is a sad tale of hypocrisy and double standards, of people with an excellent European education in expensive suits, with impeccable English, who know everything about ecology and human rights, but happily profit alongside the same regimes their governments deplore.

But there is hope of stopping this project. The stage of environmental expert evaluation is underway, and although it may be too late for the Kurgalskii refuge, I hope that ecological expertise in Europe – unlike in Russia – is real.

There is one encouraging sign – the day after the public hearing in Estonia, the country’s environment ministry asked to include my report in the record of the hearing. This is how an environment ministry should work.