Germany and Russia have hit back at the US Congress over its decision to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, in the latest diplomatic escalation over the $9.5bn project. “European energy policy is decided in Europe, not the US. We are opposed in principle to interventions from abroad, and to extraterritorial sanctions,” Heiko Maas, the German foreign minister, said on Thursday. Nord Stream 2 is an underwater gas pipeline from Russia to Germany that hasbeen under construction since last year. It will have the potential to double Russian gas imports into Europe’s largest economy, allowing Kremlin-controlled Gazprom largely to circumvent a pipeline network through Ukraine. The project enjoys political support in Russia and Germany, but has been fiercely resisted elsewhere – the US and Ukraine but also in Poland and other EU countries. The European Commission has also made clear its opposition to the pipeline.
US leaders have threatened repeatedly to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2, arguing that the project will weaken Ukraine in its long running political and military struggle with Moscow. On Monday, US legislators took a decisive step towards making that threat a reality, when the US House and Senate armed services committees voted to approve a defence bill that would force the Trump administration to sanction companies if they help Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas company, complete the pipeline.
The bill – which went on to win backing from the House of Representatives on Wednesday- takes aim in particular at companies that provide the vessels used to lay underwater pipelines. Allseas, the Switzerland-based contractor whose ships have been involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2, said it was still engaged on the project. Jeroen Hagelstein, a spokesman for the company, said: “We won’t speculate on the potential impact of the sanctions. But we are still busy. So far, nothing has happened.”