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

According to sources of Europe’s brocaster RFE, EU’s nbinding resolution came after Kremlin rejected EU members' calls to free anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny whom a Russian makeshift court remanded Navalny in custody until mid-February. Lawmakers called to strengn 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 leer Vlimir Putin’s political contender can face 3.5 years in prison against corruption charges, freezing of his monetary assets, and travel ban. EU w seeks to blacklist Russian officials and legal entities who it suspects involved in navally’s poisoning from Soviet-era nerve nt vichok. 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'

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

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

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(Im Credit: AP)