Germany says US may slap sanctions on Nord Stream-2 support fund

BERLIN, Mar 2 (PRIME) -- Germany does not rule out that the U.S. may slap sanctions on a fund created by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to support Russia’s Nord Stream-2 natural gas pipeline, the government said in a response to an inquiry of a deputy published late on Monday.

“Given the unilateral exterritorial sanctions aimed at the German and European companies, the federal government of Germany cannot rule out that … they will not be directed against the fund as well,” the response read.

Germany rejects the U.S. sanctions as interfering with the sovereignty of the E.U., and plans to discuss their cancellation with the new U.S. administration as soon as the U.S. Senate appoints all relevant officials.

The German government still does not link its position on the pipeline to the situation with poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

The government also expects the Higher Regional Court of Dusseldorf to decide on a suit filed by the pipeline’s operator Nord Stream 2 AG against the decision to apply the E.U. Gas Directive on the pipeline in June.

“The Dusseldorf court scheduled oral disputes for April 21, 2021. The court may make a decision in June,” the government said.

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.

In May 2020, the Federal Network Agency of Germany rejected a bid of Nord Stream 2 AG to exclude the pipeline from regulations of the new E.U. Gas Directive. The pipe should meet demands of the third energy package, including a demand for an alternative supplier to fill part of the pipe’s capacities or a third party to own part of the pipeline. Under the Russian law, Gazprom is the only company allowed to export natural gas from Russia and the only owner of the pipeline.

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