Ukrainian lobbyists agree to US sanctions against Nord Stream 2 – The Wall Street Journal



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According to the interlocutors of The Wall Street Journal, the new sanctions provide for restrictive measures against the ship Akademik Chersky.

US Congress Considers New Sanctions on Russian Pipeline Nord Stream 2which can completely stop the project. This was reported on November 30 by The Wall Street Journal.

According to the publication, representatives of Ukraine have been persuading the administration of US President Donald Trump and congressional leaders to impose sanctions against the project for four years. We are talking about an employee of the Naftogaz company Vadim Glamazdin and Alexander Kharchenko, whom the newspaper calls an employee of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).

Lobbying by Ukrainians and the support of Senator Ted Cruz led to the stoppage of the construction of Nord Stream 2 in 2019 due to restrictive measures. Until the end of the project, there are about 76 km.

The new sanctions include restrictive measures against the ship Akademik Chersky. This pipelayer must complete construction, but for this the ship must be reconditioned. The sanctions will be directed at the companies that will carry out the re-equipment, as well as the companies that must insure, inspect and certify the pipeline, according to the newspaper.

Glamazdin said that if the United States imposes sanctions, it will be “the last nail in the coffin of this project” and Russia will have no practical way to complete the pipeline.

Nord Stream 2 is a gas pipeline that is supposed to connect Russia with Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The length of the route is more than 1200 km, the capacity of the new gas pipeline will be 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. At first it was reported that the cost of the project was 9.9 billion euros, later, according to The New York Times, grew to nearly $ 11 billion.

As of December 2019, 93.5% of the pipeline had been completed, according to the official representative of the project operator, Nord Stream 2 AG, Jens Müller.

Authorities in the USA, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia consider “Nord Stream 2” a threat to Europe’s energy security.

The construction of the gas pipeline has been frozen since December 2019 The United States imposed sanctions on European contractorsparticipating in the project. Immediately after this, the Swiss company Allseas suspended the construction works of Nord Stream 2 and took its pipe laying vessels out of the Baltic Sea… Gazprom announced involving in the completion of the project Russian pipe tending.

July 21, 2020 House of Representatives, United States House of Representatives, approved the budget of the Ministry of Defense for fiscal year 2021, which provides for new sanctions against Nord Stream 2. July 23 defense budget project approved by the Senate… The versions of the documents adopted by the House of Representatives and the Senate will be coordinated, after which they will be presented to the President of the United States for his signature.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated already on September 1 that Nord Stream 2 will be completed despite threats from the US.… On September 8, he said that he would coordinate any action against Russia in connection with the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with European partners, but I have not decided if they are building a gas pipeline. On September 11, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction may freeze in reaction to the Navalny poisoning, but on October 17 he announced that the gas pipeline will be completed.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden declared a difficult position in “Nord Stream – 2”. He wants to stop this project forever.

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