US sanctions on Nord Stream 2 pipeline a 'competitive ploy': Russia

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on December 3 dismissed the United States’ sanctions on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, calling it a manifestation of "unfair competition that contradicts the principles of international trade and laws.” In an official statement, Moscow 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 Russia’s Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream project under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). 

The company, assigned to lead the project for the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea despite the US’ pressure to halt the use of resources for coercive purposes told news agency DPA that the project is set to resume next week. The firm announced in the first week of December that Russia ordered the resumption of German-Russian pipeline work after Germany tended strong support to push the project ahead.

The 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) pipeline construction was halted for over a year. The project is aimed to fetch natural gas from Russia's Siberian gas fields to Germany. Germany's European partners, however, expressed condemnation about the project, saying, that the pipeline would make Europe’s biggest economy heavily dependent on Russia for energy supply. The pipeline, once completed, will transport 55 billion cubic meters (1,942 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas annually. 

The US officials had proposed 30 days deadline to Moscow to wind down operations on the controversial energy infrastructure project, however, Moscow berated the US of a “competitive ploy” to disrupt Russia’s interest and bolster US energy exports into the European market. Shortly after the US State Department’s expansion of sanctions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the US administration of “hostile moves”, and deploying the “unfriendly and destructive policies of the embargo” against nations in an attempt to take over the markets. 

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Halted work at Danish island of Bornholm 

Moscow’s project Nord Stream 2 would replace Ukraine’s current gas transit pipeline network, which, the US fears would weaken Ukraine’s strategic importance with a switch in the transit roles. The US threatened the companies involved in the final installation under the interpretation of Congress' Protecting Europe's Energy Security Act of 2019 that prohibits the vessels from laying pipe at almost 100 feet below sea level for Nord Stream 2 or the TurkStream projects. The construction work, which was halted suddenly in December 2019 near the Danish island of Bornholm will resume, according to Moscow’s statement.

The project was stalled after the US warned at least two Swiss vessels laying the pipeline of 'trade sanctions'. Furthermore, the United States Senate approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) specifying the annual budget and expenditures of the US Department of Defense for the 2020 fiscal year that obliged the Trump administration to impose sanctions on the Russian Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream pipelines. The announcement about the resumption of the project was made official by Germany's state broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, followed by a confirmation from the Baltic Sea Waterways and Shipping Office in Stralsund.  According to Russia's state-run TASS, the construction of the pipeline is 93 percent done, and Gazprom’s head of investor relations, Anton Demchenko told its sources that Russia aims to complete the project by late 2020 or early 2021.

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