US house passes 2021 spending bill with Nord Stream-2 sanctions

WASHINGTON, Jul 22 (PRIME) -- The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the defense spending bill for 2021, which includes expanded sanctions against Russia-led Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project, according to results of the voting seen by PRIME on Wednesday.

The sanctions already in force are aimed at companies that are engaged in pipe-laying activities and insurance companies involved in this. In the new draft, these sanctions are tightened and restrictions apply to companies for facilitating the sale, lease or provision of pipe-laying vessels for the construction of gas pipelines. The amendment also provides for sanctions for the provision of insurance and reinsurance and services or premises for the technical modernization of ships associated with the construction of the pipeline.

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 is implementing the project together with Germany’s E.ON and BASF, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, and France’s Engie. The length of the pipeline’s route exceeds 1,200 kilometers.

The German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations is considering retaliatory measures against the threat of U.S. sanctions against the Nord Stream-2, including counter-sanctions, Michael Harms, executive director of the committee, said in an interview with the Funke media group.

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