The United States violates international law, the principles of fair and free trade and engages in blatant unfair competition. So the new Washington sanctions against the construction of Nord Stream 2 were commented on by Moscow’s Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov in the official group of the diplomatic mission in Facebook .
According to him, the American authorities have been trying for a long time by all means to prevent the implementation of the project. In particular, Washington exerts rough pressure on the participants of the Nord Stream 2 consortium and threatens Russia and its European partners interested in cooperation in the gas sector. In addition, the United States has adopted a number of legislative measures to prevent the completion of the pipeline.
The Russian ambassador added that the United States went beyond the bounds of decency in an attempt to achieve its narrowly opportunistic goals and does not take into account the opinion of its own allies. “All this is nothing but blatant unfair competition. The desire to create an advantage for oneself in the energy market of Europe, by force to force the countries of the region to buy American raw materials. Ultimately there will be no winners in this adventure,” Antonov concluded.
The United States introduced new sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under construction on January 19. They touched upon the Fortuna pipelayer, its owner – KBT-Rus – and the Rustanker company. The ship “Maxim Gorky” also fell under restrictive measures.
After that, the Swiss insurance company Zurich Insurance Group left the project. In addition to her, the project was abandoned by the German concern Bilfinger, which had several contracts with the pipeline operator, Nord Stream 2, and the Danish engineering company Ramboll. Norwegian DNV GL refused to certify the gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
The Kremlin has already responded to the new US sanctions against the gas pipeline. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov recalled that the Russian side still expects to complete the project.