Germany, US allow Russia to finish Nord Stream 2

BERLIN/WASHINGTON, Jul 22 (PRIME) -- Germany and the U.S. agreed late on Wednesday to allow Russia to finish the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project but will apply sanctions if Moscow uses the pipeline against Ukraine.

"I am glad that we have found a constructive solution of the Nord Steam 2 problem with the U.S. We will support Ukraine in establishment of a green energy sector and we will be working on gas transit across Ukraine for the next decade," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in his Twitter blog.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said, as cited by Reuters, "We continue to oppose the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. We view it as a Kremlin geopolitical project that is intended to expand Russia's influence over Europe's energy resources and to circumvent Ukraine."

A high-ranking State Department official said at a briefing that the U.S. and Germany would not allow Russia to use the pipeline as a geopolitical weapon: "Our joint statement lets know this clearly: the U.S. and Germany will not tolerate Russia's use of energy as a geopolitical tool in Europe or escalation of aggression against Ukraine," the official said. He added that the U.S. will not give Russia the roadmap of possible sanctions so it could not evade them.

Another State Department representative said that Germany would elaborate measures to support the European energy market amid the risks that the Nord Stream 2 carries. Berlin will create a "green fund" to help Ukraine and pledged to allocate at least 150 million euros to green energy initially and 60 million euros more to energy security after that.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages construction of two lines of a natural gas pipeline with an annual capacity of up to 55 billion cubic meters, running from the Russian shore to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Russian gas giant Gazprom builds the pipeline together with Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall Dea, Royal Dutch Shell, Austria’s OMV, and France’s Engie.

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