Targeted by American sanctions, the German CEO of the operating company of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which links Russia to Germany, resigned on Thursday February 24 from his position as administrator of the German club Schalke (D2), of which Gazprom is the main sponsor. A few hours after the Russian attack against Ukraine, Matthias Warnig announced that he was leaving the supervisory board of Schalke, a historic German club currently struggling to try to move up to the first division. Aged 66, Mr. Warnig began his career in the circles of power in the communist GDR. According to the German media, he was a senior official of the Stasi (the East German Ministry of Internal Security, of sinister memory), in the espionage section. The Schalke club said to itself ” shocked pictures broadcast Thursday morning on international television. He decided to remove the Gazprom name from his jersey. After Moscow recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian “republics” in eastern Ukraine, Germany on Tuesday suspended the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.