Min: U.S. sanctions against NStream-2 illegitimate, cripple Europe

MOSCOW, Nov 25 (PRIME) -- New U.S. sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline are illegitimate, and Washington’s allies will be affected first, Foreign Ministry press secretary Maria Zakharova told reporters on Thursday.

“Russia’s stance remains unchanged: unilateral anti-Russian sanctions are illegitimate. They affect not so much our interests, but the interests of the U.S., and in the case of Nord Stream-2 pipeline, the direct allies of the U.S., i.e. the E.U., Germany, both collectively and individually,” Zakharova said.

“The new … sanctions against the companies associated with Nord Stream-2 look like manifestation of real obsession… The arguments about the exclusively commercial nature of this project, which is indeed extremely important for stable energy supplies and maintaining competitiveness of Germany and the European Union as a whole, are well known and we have regularly set them out.”

U.S. sanctions against Cyprus-based Transadria and the Russian-flagged ship Marlin involved in the Nord Stream-2 project came into effect on Tuesday. Later, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. would continue to implement sanctions against the project.

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