German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the US extraterritorial sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline inappropriate. She is quoted by RIA Novosti.
“We need to consider the whole [situation] as a whole, talk to each other, is there any desire to conduct gas trade with Russia at all, what dependence will be recognized … I consider these extraterritorial sanctions in any case a means that is inappropriate,” the politician said .
The United States introduced new sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under construction on January 19. They touched the Fortuna pipelayer, its owner, KBT-Rus, and the Rustanker company. The ship “Maxim Gorky” also fell under restrictive measures.
Commissioning of Nord Stream 2 was planned for late 2020 or early 2021. We are currently talking about the summer of 2021. On January 19, Washington, for the first time since the fight against the gas pipeline, realized the threat and imposed sanctions on the project. However, Berlin continues to insist that Nord Stream 2 is an exclusively economic project.