2021-04-13 13:35:00
NORD STREAM 2 SANCTIONS FOR EVERYBODY
DS - APR 12, 2021 - The United States warned Germany Monday that it is not willing to compromise on the dispute over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, which will carry Russian gas to Europe, German media reported.
Washington's new administration is "determined to use all available levers to prevent the completion of Nord Stream 2," the spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Joseph Giordono-Scholz, told Der Tagesspiegel.
The American diplomat was responding to a question on what possible incentives Germany could offer to ease the row.
Berlin has been hoping the Biden administration would adopt a pragmatic approach to the project that would carry Russian gas to Europe, as it is 95% complete.
U.S. President Joe Biden is currently under pressure from Congress to take a tougher line on Nord Stream 2. Both Biden and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken have called for a stop to the pipeline construction.
"It is a geopolitical project by Russia that threatens Europe's energy security as well as that of Ukraine and the Eastern NATO partners," said Giordono-Scholz.
This judgment is "shared by some of our European partners and even by some serious voices in Germany," he underlined, warning of potential sanctions on any firm involved in Nord Stream 2.
"We will continue to register any organization that may be involved in any sanctioned activity, and have made it clear that any company risks being penalized for participating in Nord Stream 2," Giordono-Scholz said.
After more than a year of threatening to do so, the U.S. introduced its first sanctions on Jan. 19, former President Donald Trump's final full day in office. The administration sanctioned the Russian ship Fortuna, which later resumed laying pipes in Danish waters on Feb. 6.
The pipeline was originally scheduled for completion by the end of 2019.
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Earlier:
2021, April, 2, 12:35:00
NORD STREAM 2 SECURITY
The number of cases of low-flying "foreign planes" over the Nord Stream 2's vessels has increased in the second half of March.
2021, March, 29, 13:15:00
NORD STREAM 2 WILL BE FINISHED
Between 2015 and 2020, U.S. gas production grew roughly twice as fast (4.3% per year on average) as consumption (2.3% per year), according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
2021, March, 24, 10:30:00
NORD STREAM 2 SANCTIONS FOREVER
“It has the potential to undermine the interests of Ukraine, Poland and a number of close partners and allies,” Blinken added, saying that a U.S. law required Washington to impose sanctions on companies participating in the Nord Stream 2 project.
2021, March, 17, 14:30:00
NORD STREAM 2 CONTINUATION
The consortium behind Nord Stream 2 has pushed ahead with construction despite growing political pressure.
2021, March, 1, 10:55:00
NORD STREAM 2 SANCTIONS FOR ALL
"The US has decided to put the Nord Stream 2 project in a broader geopolitical framework and is threatening all industries or parties involved in the project with sanctions," Wintershall Dea said.
2021, February, 24, 10:55:00
NORD STREAM 2 SANCTIONS ANEW
President Joe Biden believes the pipeline is a "bad deal" for Europe, his spokeswoman Jen Psaki has said, and many U.S. lawmakers are pushing for sanctions.
2021, February, 17, 15:50:00
NORD STREAM 2 SANCTIONS CONTINUED
Some 150 km of Nord Stream 2 remains to be laid in Danish and German waters, but the threat of US sanctions against companies involved in laying the pipeline has led to long delays in its completion.
