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2019-01-16 11:35:00

GERMANY PROTECTS EUROPE

GERMANY PROTECTS EUROPE

REUTERS - Germany will try to protect German and European companies from some potentially "massive collateral damage" if Washington levies further sanctions against Russia, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Friday.

Maas, speaking on Friday at a new year reception of the German Committee on East European Economic Relations, an industry group, said he expected the newly elected U.S. congress to move swiftly to bring new sanctions against Moscow.

"Our aim is to reach agreement (with the U.S. on sanctions) and protect German and European companies from the in some cases massive collateral damage," he said.

He did not give further details but his remarks are likely to cheer German exporters hard hit by European Union and U.S. sanctions imposed after Moscow invaded and annexed parts of Ukraine in 2014.

Washington has led the way in demanding tougher measures against Moscow, while Germany, which has deep trade ties with Russia and depends on it for much of its imported gas, has been far more cautious.

"For us sanctions ... only make sense when, as with the EU's sanctions, they are tied to clear, fulfillable conditions," said Maas, in an apparent softening of his more hawkish tone on Russia when he took office last year. "Sadly, that is no longer the case for U.S. sanctions."

Earlier, the industry group's chairman Wolfgang Buechele had criticized the U.S. sanctions for being too vague and unclear for German exporters to adhere to, pleading for German government backing if they were further tightened.

The EU last month extended for a further six months sanctions targeting Russia's financial, energy and defense sectors. They were originally imposed in July 2014 after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

The U.S. expanded its sanctions in December, adding 15 members of Russian military intelligence and four entities involved in alleged election interference to a blacklist that allows for their assets to be frozen.

The new Democrat majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, incensed by allegations of collaboration between President Donald Trump's campaign team and Russian lobbyists, is preparing congressional hearings on Trump's alleged Russia ties.

A particular focus of both their and Trump's ire is the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which, by supplying Germany with Russian gas directly under the Baltic Sea, will cut Ukraine out of lucrative transit fees even as it fends off a Russian-backed insurrection in its east.

But Maas said he had told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that sanctions targeting Nord Stream 2 would not be appropriate.

"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin agreed last year to continue gas transit through Ukraine," he said. "Nord Stream 2 isn't Germany and Russia going it alone. I say to critics of the project: questions of European energy policy must be decided in Europe, not the U.S."

 

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Earlier:

Sanctions
2019, January, 14, 12:15:00

U.S. SANCTIONS FOR GERMANY

REUTERS - The United States has warned German companies involved in the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that they could face sanctions if they stick with the project.

 

 

 Russia Sanctions
2019, January, 11, 11:35:00

WRONG U.S. SANCTIONS

REUTERS - U.S. sanctions against the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2 pipeline would be the wrong way to solve a dispute over energy supply, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Thursday.

 

 Russia Sanctions
2018, December, 27, 17:40:00

RUSSIA SANCTIONS FOREVER

PLATTS - The US has long opposed the Nord Stream expansion, arguing that Europe should not be so dependent on Moscow for energy. The government has recently been touting US LNG exports as an alternative to Russian gas, in addition to supporting the Southern Gas Corridor from the Caspian region to the EU.

 

 Russia Sanctions
2018, November, 19, 11:40:00

RUSSIAN GAS FOR EVERYONE

BLOOMBERG - The $11 billion pipeline is one of three giant projects helping the world’s biggest gas producer strengthen its grip on Europe and Asia. Thousands of miles to the east, the Power of Siberia pipeline will connect with China, and a project under the Black Sea will deliver fuel to Turkey and southeast Europe.

 

 Russia Sanctions
2018, October, 3, 08:45:00

NORD STREAM IS IMPORTANT

REUTERS - The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is important to secure German energy supplies and Russia is a safe and reliable provider, Thomas Bareiss, Germany’s state secretary for energy, said.

 

 Russia Sanctions
2018, September, 17, 15:05:00

NORD STREAM 2 FOR EUROPE

PLATTS - Moscow also hopes to have its 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 pipeline and its 31.5 Bcm/year TurkStream link ready to flow gas to Europe by the end of 2019, leaving only limited volumes for transit via Ukraine.

 

 

 Russia Sanctions
2018, September, 13, 14:10:00

U.S. SANCTIONS AGAINST THE WORLD

CNBC - "We can see that the pricing situation today depends not just on the supply/demand balance or the general economic situation but also on the uncertainty that we observe today in the global markets: the trade wars, the sanctions that the U.S. pursue," Novak said, speaking to CNBC's Geoff Cutmore at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Russia. 

 

 

Tags: U.S., SANCTIONS, NORD STREAM, GAS, PIPELINE, RUSSIA, GERMANY, EUROPE