On Tuesday, the US government plans to impose sanctions against the Russian pipelayer, the Fortuna barge, involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2, and its owner, the Moscow micro-enterprise KBT-Rus. This is reported by the Handelsblatt newspaper on Monday 18 January.
“The Americans informed about this (about plans to impose sanctions – Ed.) the federal government of Germany and other European partners on Monday, ”the report says.
According to a spokesman for the US embassy, Washington “will continue to take all necessary and appropriate steps to prevent the implementation of Nord Stream 2.”
On January 13, the US State Department warned a number of European companies, which, according to its assumptions, are helping in the construction of the gas pipeline, about the possible risk of imposing restrictions on them by the US authorities.
Two days later, it became known that the construction of the “Nord Stream – 2” in the waters of Denmark is scheduled to be completed in May. In accordance with the schedule, the start of work is scheduled for the second half of January. Then pipe-laying will continue in Germany.
To date, more than 2,300 km of the approximately 2,460 km of the pipeline have been completed.
On January 15, Bloomberg, citing sources, wrote that the Swiss company Zurich Insurance Group is going to stop providing insurance services for work related to the construction of the gas pipeline. It was noted that the decision was made “because of the threat of further US sanctions against the project.”
The Zurich Insurance Group has neither confirmed nor denied these reports.
Nord Stream 2 is being built from Russia to the FRG 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.
Washington imposed unilateral extraterritorial restrictions against the project in December 2019. The US then expanded them with a defense budget for 2021. The document extended the restrictions to organizations that provided services for testing, inspection or certification. The Norwegian company DNV GL has confirmed that it will stop checking the pipeline and will not be able to certify it.