EU lawmakers vote to halt Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction with Russia over Navalny row

European Parliament on January 21 has passed a resolution calling for the EU to "immediately" stop the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would felicitate easy transportation of the natural gas from Russia to Germany over Kremlin critic Navalny’s arrest. EU lawmakers passed the resolution with 581 voters for the move, 44 abstentions, and 50 against it. The resolution called for a “critical review cooperation with Russia in various foreign policy platforms and on projects such as Nord Stream 2.” 

According to sources of Europe’s broadcaster RFE, the EU’s nonbinding resolution came after Kremlin rejected EU members' calls to free the anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny whom a Russian makeshift court remanded Navalny in custody until mid-February. Lawmakers called to strengthen the EU’s restrictive measures vis-a-vis Russia as several EU officials threatened sanctions in response to Navalny’s unlawful arrest at Moscow’s  Sheremetyevo airport. Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s political contender can face 3.5 years in prison against the corruption charges, freezing of his monetary assets, and travel ban. EU now seeks to blacklist the Russian officials and legal entities who it suspects involved in navally’s poisoning from the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. This, according to RTE’s sources, might include Russian oligarchs, and officials that work closely with Putin. 

[Credit: AP]

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Dialogue with Russia 'in vain'

Leader of the conservative European People's Party (EPP) faction in the European Parliament, and a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, told German Daily Der Spiegel Online that the EU wants to create pressure on Russia by halting the work of integral Nord Stream 2 project, adding that simply a dialogue with Russian counterparts had been in vain.

Earlier, in an official statement, Moscow had stressed that it will “protect Russia’s interests and the interests of international commercial projects” in response to the US State Department’s extension of sanctions to its key Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). The 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) pipeline construction was halted a year earlier and was recently started again. The project is aimed to fetch natural gas from Russia's Siberian gas fields to Germany.  The pipeline, once completed, will transport 55 billion cubic meters (1,942 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas annually. 

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(Image Credit: AP)