> It's going to be burned into CO2 anyway.

No, because if the pipeline is not used, there is an incentive to slow down methane extraction and transport on the Russian side.

But if they can send it in the pipe and make it leak to piss the EU countries off, on the other hand...

> If anything, methane is a bit better than CO2 in the long run.

Hmm... I wonder where you read that because actually it's the contrary: https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane

After degradation, the methane is transformed in the exact same CO2 it would have become if someone had burnt it, thus it still the same long term pita in addition to the short term headache it creates.

Dang, you're right. Methane is much more potent as GHG than CO2, lasts longer than I thought, and does degrade into CO2 anyway.