Washington will continue to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline until the project stops. This was stated by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Christopher Robinson on December 16 during the Atlantic Council conference, which was broadcast on YouTube.
“We do not want to impose sanctions, but we will use these powers and these tools to stop the project. <...> We will stop this pipeline, ”said Robinson.
According to the State Department spokesman, the key role will be played by ending and containing the “hostile influence” of Russia, which, according to him, is allegedly seeking to expand its influence in Europe. The stoppage of the project will help improve US-Russian relations in the future, Robinson said.
The implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project was suspended due to the sanctions imposed by the United States in December 2019 against gas pipeline contractors.
On December 11, the US Senate approved the draft defense budget for the 2021 fiscal year, which, among other things, provides for the expansion of restrictive measures on the gas pipeline.
American President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the document approved by the senators.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Berlin is still interested in completing the pipeline, despite US sanctions.
According to the head of the Bundestag Committee on Economics and Energy, Klaus Ernst, if Washington “stays with it,” then European countries will need to “defend themselves” from the US sanctions policy. There are many opportunities to respond to Washington, but concrete steps have not yet been formulated, he added.
Nord Stream 2 is being built from Russia to the Federal Republic of Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Due to earlier US sanctions, pipe-laying work was suspended as the Swiss company Allseas withdrew its vessels from the Baltic. The European Union mainly supports the project and participates in its implementation. The United States, the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine are opposed.