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After the Russian ship Akademik Chersky stopped the completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and returned to Kaliningrad, Germany found another option. Now, the Russian-flagged ship Fortuna will carry out underwater operations in the pipeline until the end of December, according to a navigation advisory from Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency.
Specialized barge Fortuna with Russian flag to continue laying pipes for the Nord Stream gas pipeline – 2 “in German waters,” writes RBC with reference to a new navigation advisory from Germany’s Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency.
The document says that in the Baltic Sea south of the shallow region of Adlergrund, the Fortuna ship will carry out subsea operations in the gas pipeline from December 5 to December 31. Fortuna is currently stationed in the German port of Wismar (Baltic Sea), according to data from MarineTraffic.
In this case, the end point of the journey is not indicated on the ship’s route.
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. The cost of the project was initially reported to be € 9.9 billion, then, according to The New York Times, it 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 United States, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia consider Nord Stream 2 to be a threat to Europe’s energy security.
Construction of the gas pipeline was frozen when the United States imposed sanctions against European contractors involved in the project in December 2019. Immediately after this, the Swiss company Allseas suspended work on the construction of Nord Stream 2 and removed its laying vessels from Baltic Sea pipelines. Gazprom announced that Russian pipelayers will participate in the completion of the project.
On July 21, 2020, the House of Representatives, the lower house of the United States Congress, approved the 2021 fiscal budget of the Department of Defense, which provides for new sanctions against Nord Stream 2. On July 23, the Senate approved the bill. defense budget. 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 signature.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed on September 1 that Nord Stream 2 would be completed despite threats from the United States. 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 has not yet decided whether they will affect the construction of the gas pipeline. On September 11, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline could be frozen in response to the Navalny poisoning, but on October 17 he announced that the pipeline would be completed.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden announced a tough stance on Nord Stream 2. He wants to stop this project forever.
The specially equipped Russian vessel “Akademik Chersky” did not begin to complete the construction of the gas pipeline and left for Kaliningrad on November 27. The ship was sent to Russia because the Norwegian company Det Norske Veritas – Germanischer Lloyd, hired by Gazprom to certify the Nord Stream 2, was unable to inspect the ship and its equipment due to US sanctions.
Despite this, a representative from Nord Stream 2 AG announced plans to resume construction of the gas pipeline as of December 5. The US embassy in Berlin on December 5 asked the German government to halt construction of Nord Stream 2.
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