With all due respect, you contradicted yourself. The intermediate countries are themselves customers and not merely transit hosts.
Russia’s already cut off the gas to former eastern bloc countries; the side effect was that Germany got cut off too, but NS2 prevents that now.
And of course, the raging TDS among Germany’s leadership is accelerating the desire for a gas link like this.
There is no contradiction. Yep, they are consumers and to sell them gas brings Russia profit given the supplies are paid for. That is why nobody is going to lock the valve.
The situation you are talking about was caused by Ukrainian non-payment but the valve wasn’t locked.
When you have an intermediary in such business who are also a customer there are peculiarities.
Let’s say Germany consumes X volume and Ukraine Z volume.
It order to deliver down the pipe Russia pumps into Ukraine X+Z with Ukraine withdrawing Z and X gets by to Germany.
In case of non-payment crisis Russia pumps X volume into Ukraine and expects it to flow directly to Germany. In real life Germany gets X minus Z because Ukraine still withdraws the gas based on ‘necessity’.
At the end Germany doesn’t get its gas it paid for and Russia doesn’t get paid for service de-facto delivered. And Ukraine sent both a bill for transit fees.
With all the respect to Ukraine being poor and in need it doesn’t make this situation right.
That alone justifies direct link.