[ad_1]
German Chancellor Heiko Maas said that with the coming to power in the United States of Democrat Joseph Biden, countries will be able to advance in the construction of the Russian Nord Stream 2 project.
“A new tonality and a different way of confrontation will help move forward,” Maas told Spiegel.
At the same time, the German chancellor noted that he had no illusions about a radical change in the US position in relation to Nord Stream 2.
According to him, there are almost no differences between Republicans and Democrats on this issue.
At the same time, Maas recalled the official position of the German government: extraterritorial sanctions are illegal. He added that nothing will change in this matter.
Nord Stream 2 will avoid transit states (Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and other Eastern European countries) through the exclusive economic zones and territorial waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.
The project is estimated at 9.5 billion euros. It is being implemented by Gazprom in alliance with the European companies Engie, Uniper, OMV, Shell, Wintershall. They pledged to finance Nord Stream 2 in total by 50%, i.e. for 950 million euros each. Gazprom will provide the second half of the funds: 4,750 million euros.
Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic States and the United States criticize the SP-2. In his view, the EU may become dependent on Russian gas. Ukraine also does not want to lose its role as a gas transit country. In this case, you will lose 3 billion in annual revenue. Berlin is committed to guaranteeing transit through Ukraine even after the construction of the gas pipeline.
As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, the Russian ship Akademik Chersky, which will complete the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, left the German port of Mukran, the project’s logistics base. After a month of parking in Germany, the pipelayer headed to the Russian city of Kaliningrad.
US sanctions are the main obstacle to the completion of Nord Stream 2. As of October 20, they concern insurance and certified companies that work with ships.
It will not be possible to complete and commission the gas pipeline without certification and insurance. According to Nord Stream 2 AG, the restrictions will affect more than a hundred European companies.
The US State Department has released a clarification stating that not only companies that provide boats for the construction of Nord Stream 2 will fall under US sanctions, but also those that are dedicated to modernizing ships that must complete it, install the necessary equipment on them, or finance these processes.
At the beginning of the year, Russia promised to complete the project in late 2020 or early 2021, but so far work has not started. The most likely candidate for the role of pipelayer is the ship Akademik Chersky, which has been in the Baltic Sea since May. The problem remains the lack of insurance, without which it is impossible to lay pipes in the waters of Denmark.
The German newspaper Bild believes that the United States, under the leadership of newly elected President Joe Biden, will be able to stop Nord Stream 2 forever. At the same time, the Russians’ hopes that the new head of state can ease sanctions are in vain.
The US government is also preparing new lists of companies that may be subject to sanctions due to their work with the Nord Stream 2 project.
