Charter Treaty. Critics of Nord Stream say that Europe has become dangerously dependent on Russian natural gas, particularly since Russia could face problems meeting a surge in domestic as well as foreign demand. In 2021, 45% of Europe's gas imports came from Russia. Following several Russia–Ukraine gas disputes over gas prices, as well as foreign policy toward Eastern Europe, it has been noted that the gas supplied by Russia can be used as a political tool. A Swedish Defense Research Agency study, finished in March 2007, counted over 55 incidents since 1991, most with "both political and economic underpinnings". In April 2006, Radosław Sikorski, then Poland's defense minister, compared the project to the infamous 1939 Nazi–Soviet Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In his book The New Cold War: Putin's Russia and the Threat to the West, published in 2008, Edward Lucas stated, "though Nord Stream's backers insist that the project is business pure and simple, this would be easier to believe if it were more transparent". In a report published by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in 2008, Norwegian researcher Bendik Solum Whist noted that Nord Stream AG was incorporated in Switzerland, "whose strict banking secrecy laws makes the project less transparent than it would have been if based within the EU". Secondly, the Russian energy sector "in general lacks transparency" and Gazprom "is no exception". Russian responses have argued that the pipeline increases Europe's energy security and that the criticism is caused by bitterness about the loss of significant transit revenues, as well as the loss of political influence that stems from the transit countries' ability to hold Russian gas supplies to Western Europe hostage to their local political agendas. As the first direct connection to Western Europe, the Nord Stream pipeline would reduce Russia's dependence on the transit countries. According to Gazprom, this direct connection to Germany would decrease risks in the gas transit zones, including the political risk of cutting off Russian gas exports to Western Europe. In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission and International Energy Agency presented joint plans to reduce reliance on Russian energy, reduce Russian gas imports by two thirds within a year, and completely by 2030. On 18 May 2022, the European Union published plans to end its reliance on Russian oil, natural gas, and coal by 2027. Security and military aspects Swedish military experts and several politicians, including former Minister