According to the agency, Washington plans to create obstacles for the implementation of other Russian energy projects.
The U.S. authorities recognize that they can no longer prevent the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, but they intend to oppose the implementation of other Russian projects. This was reported on Tuesday by Bloomberg agency.
According to two of his sources among employees of the U.S. administration, Washington now has almost no leverage over Russia and Germany with regard to the gas pipeline. One of the sources added that the US Senate’s approval of the bill on the defense budget for the fiscal year 2020 (which began on October 1), which obliges the US administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream, has not changed much. This official stated that the U.S. plans to create obstacles to the implementation of other projects of the Russian Federation in the energy sector.
According to the agency, Washington intends to pay more attention to this issue after the arrival in Moscow next month of John Sullivan, who was appointed U.S. ambassador to Russia.
According to the agency, U.S. President Donald Trump previously expressed his readiness to sign the bill on the defense budget for fiscal year 2020. Sanctions against companies involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2 will come into force immediately afterwards, a source in the U.S. Congress said. According to the estimates in the publication, the pipeline will be ready for commissioning between April and June 2020.
“Nord Stream 2 includes two pipelines with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year, which run from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. Gazprom’s European partners in the project are Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall, Austria’s OMV, France’s Engie and England’s Shell. The pipeline bypasses transit countries – Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and other Eastern European and Baltic countries – through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
The U.S. is categorically against the new gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. Washington has repeatedly threatened to impose sanctions against the project and its European participants. Many Russian and Western experts alike point out that the U.S. is trying to ensure the supply of its liquefied natural gas, which is much more expensive than Russian pipeline gas, to the European market in this way.