Official: Russia shrugs off US treats to Nord Stream 2 operator

MOSCOW, Jun 8 (PRIME) -- Russia pays no heed to the statements from Washington that exclusion of Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, of sanctions may be recalled, Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Tuesday.

On Monday, U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said that Washington could recall exclusion of Nord Stream 2 AG from the sanctions list.

“When the U.S. side sent a signal that a slight pause was going to happen in this sanction frenzy, we did not pay special attention to that, and now, when contradictory signals are being sent again, we pay no attention to them either. We will finish Nord Stream 2, the sanction pressure was an obstacle, but it did not undermine (the project),” Ryabkov said.

The world’s cleanest and the most environmentally friendly gas will start flowing through the pipeline regardless of any further U.S. sanctions. Russia will not change its rejection of the U.S. sanction policy, he said.

“We will have no discussions of the conditions and criteria for softening or cancelling the U.S. sanctions. Time will pass, and I am sure that the U.S. will understand how flawed, senseless, and useless their sanction policy was, and not just against Russia, but against other countries as well,” he 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.

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