The subsidiary of the largest German insurance group Münchener Rück, which reinsures German and international insurers, Munich RE, has ceased to provide insurance services for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline due to the threat of US sanctions. This was announced to RIA Novosti by the official representative of the Munich Reinsurance Company Frank Ziegler on Tuesday, February 23rd.
“We are talking about our subsidiary Munich Re Syndicate in London, they had a contract and it was completed, I can confirm that,” said Ziegler.
He stressed that he could not provide any details in this regard.
On February 19 it was reported that the Swiss company Zurich Insurance Group refused to work with JV – 2. The official representative of the company Thomas Baer noted that the company gives the highest priority to compliance with economic sanctions, including those under US law.
On the same day, the Bild newspaper reported that the German concern Bilfinger Se refused to participate in the construction of the project due to possible US sanctions.
On January 13, the State Department warned some European companies, which, according to its assumptions, are helping in the construction of the pipeline, about the possible risk of imposing restrictions on them by Washington.
Two days later, in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper, US President Joe Biden’s adviser Nicholas Burns said that the US sanctions against Nord Stream 2 should be suspended, as well as the construction of the pipeline itself, in order to calmly negotiate between the US and the countries involved in the project.
Nord Stream 2 is being built from Russia to Germany along the Baltic seabed with the aim of direct and reliable gas supplies to Europe. The EU countries mainly support the project and participate in its implementation. The USA, the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine are against.