Kremlin evaluates suspension of US sanctions against Nord Stream-2 AG

The statement by the United States on the decision to suspend sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG in the Kremlin was regarded as a positive signal, said the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.

The United States on Thursday said it had abandoned the imposition of sanctions against Nord Stream-2 AG, which is implementing the Nord Stream 2 Russian gas pipeline project, explaining that it is in their national interests. However, then the United States imposed sanctions against Russian organizations and ships under the Nord Stream 2 project. In particular, sanctions were imposed against the Marine Rescue Service, Mortransservice, the Samara Thermal Power Property Fund, and Koksokhimtrans. Sanctions were also imposed against 13 courts.

“This can and should be regarded as a positive signal, and this is how we perceive it”, – Peskov said on the Russia TV channel in the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin.

Nord Stream-2 envisages the construction of two lines of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The project is actively opposed by the United States, which is promoting its liquefied natural gas to the EU, as well as Ukraine and a number of European countries. The states imposed sanctions on the gas pipeline in December 2019, as a result of which the Swiss Allseas was forced to stop laying. It continued a year later – in December 2020, by the forces of the Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna, and on April 27 this year, Akademik Chersky joined it.

At the same time, the United States has since repeatedly tightened sanctions against the project. The Russian Federation has repeatedly called to stop mentioning Nord Stream 2 in the context of any politicization, since it is a commercial project that is beneficial to both Russia and the European Union. The Federal Republic of Germany supports the completion of the gas pipeline and rejects the unilateral extraterritorial sanctions of the United States.