While Gazprom has said it’s looking at options to complete the pipeline, it hasn’t given any details on where it will find the ship to do the work. One of the pipeline’s financial backers, Austrian gas and oil company OMV AG, has predicted that the Russians will follow through.

When replacing hard coal, natural gas achieves an immediate 50 percent reduction of CO2 emissions.

“Of course we will finish building (the pipeline)... Gazprom has alternative options for how to lay it. It will take a little more time, but that’s no big deal,” Medvedev told journalists, adding that it could take a couple more months.

“Such sanctions are a serious interference in the internal affairs of Germany and Europe and their sovereignty. We firmly reject this,” Scholz told German broadcaster ARD in comments released on Saturday. But he rejected countermeasures.

Switzerland’s AllSeas Group SA removed vessels that were laying the last section of the pipeline connecting Russia with Germany, which was just weeks away from completion, after U.S. President Donald Trump approved sanctions targeting the project.

In anticipation of the enactment of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Allseas has suspended its Nord Stream 2 pipelay activities. Allseas will proceed, consistent with the legislation’s wind down provision and expect guidance comprising of the necessary regulatory, technical and environmental clarifications from the relevant US authority.

The U.S. has little leverage to prevent the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project between Russia and Germany from being completed, two administration officials said, acknowledging the failure of a years-long effort to head off what officials believe is a threat to European security.

The 764-mile Nord Stream 2 will deliver Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea and is expected to double the capacity of the gas corridor to 110 Bcm/year.

"I can confirm the Pioneering Spirit is currently installing the pipeline in Danish waters," the Allseas spokesman said.

The potential delay in Nord Stream 2 construction also undermines Russia's position in negotiating a new transit deal with Ukraine's Naftogaz. Ukraine transited some 87 Bcm of Russian gas to Europe in 2018 -- or some 44% of total Russian exports -- but those volumes are set to slump once the planned Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream gas pipelines come online.