US Fails To Affect Berlin's Position On Nord Stream 2 Pipeline - German Ambassador

Neither sanctions nor any other US activities are able to change the German government's position that the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline should be completed, German Ambassador to Moscow Geza Andreas von Geyr has said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2020) Neither sanctions nor any other US activities are able to change the German government's position that the Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline should be completed, German Ambassador to Moscow Geza Andreas von Geyr has said.

In early June, US senators introduced a bipartisan bill that would tighten sanctions on Nord Stream 2 to potentially hit numerous European companies, banks and governmental organizations that work with the project. According to media reports, Germany is putting together a set of countermeasures to mobilize a coordinated EU-wide response.

"As for Nord Stream 2, neither ideas or concrete actions by the United States change the position of the German government regarding the gas pipeline ... I am optimistic: even if there is a delay, the Nord Stream 2 will be completed," the ambassador said in a video address, marking the start of the German Presidency of the European Council, published by on the embassy website on Tuesday.

The Nord Stream 2 project aims at laying a 745-mile-long twin pipeline that will carry up to 55 billion cubic meters (1.942 trillion cubic feet) of gas per year from Russia to Germany, passing through the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden.

On December 20, US President Donald Trump signed the 2020 defense budget, which included sanctions against the project, forcing Allseas, a Swiss company responsible for laying down the pipes, to withdraw from the project with just 100 miles left to lay.