The United States promised to monitor all organizations involved in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. State Department spokesman Ned Price stated this, RIA Novosti reports.
Price noted that the US authorities will continue to study all project participants for possible sanctions. He also said that Congress was provided with a list of 15 organizations that have “in good faith” stopped carrying out activities related to the construction of the gas pipeline and are currently not subject to US sanctions.
Earlier, the United States expanded sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The Ministry of Finance has added the pipe-laying vessel Fortuna, which is engaged in the construction of the gas pipeline, to another sanctions list. Also, restrictions under the law “On the Protection of Energy Security of Europe” have been imposed on the owner of the ship, the company “KBT-Rus”.
Nord Stream 2 is a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, laid along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. It was supposed to be put into operation at the end of 2019, but the completion of construction had to be postponed due to US sanctions. Construction is hindered in Washington as American liquefied natural gas (LNG) competes with Russian pipeline fuel for the European market
Currently, Nord Stream 2 is 95 percent complete.