According to Russia, the new US sanctions will complicate the completion of Nord Stream 2

According to Russia, the new US sanctions will complicate the completion of Nord Stream 2

Russia does not rule out that impending new sanctions from the US may lead to the extension of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Further sanctions would complicate the completion, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to the Russian state agency Tass. "However, our European partners and we are interested in the project being implemented," he said. The US National Defense Act envisages an extension of sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 project. However, incumbent US President Donald Trump vetoed the law on Wednesday (December 23). Peskov did not want to comment on whether the Trump administration can still stop the completion of the gas pipeline. "We are not here to foretell the coffee grounds," he said. However, he added that the USA wants to make the implementation of the project as difficult as possible. At the beginning of December, the construction of the project was resumed after a break of more than a year. Up to 55 billion cubic meters (m3) of gas should be transported annually from Russia to Europe on two lines, each 1,200 kilometers long of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The project, worth around € 9.5 billion, is already 94% complete, with around 75 kilometers to be completed, mainly south of the Danish island of Bornholm. Construction stopped at the end of 2019. Due to US sanctions, both Swiss ships laying the pipeline left the project. Earlier, despite criticism from Germany and Russia, the US Congress passed the European Energy Security Act (PEESA). The US also threatened sanctions against the German port of Sassnitz - Mukran in Rügen, where the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is stored. The USA has long been trying to stop the project definitively, claiming that the pipeline will increase Europe's dependence on Russian gas too much. Critics, on the other hand, say the US just wants to import more liquefied gas into Europe. However, some Member States of the European Union (EU), especially Poland and the Baltic countries, also opposed the pipeline. Moscow sees political sanctions and an effort to push Russian gas out of the European market behind Washington's sanctions against the project. The Kremlin says the pipeline will be completed. For its completion, Russia sent two special ships to the Baltic Sea, Fortuna and Academician Chersky.