The German political party Soyuz 90 / Greens, which is a member of the Bundestag and previously opposed the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, called the new US sanctions against the project unacceptable. Omid Nuripur, an expert of the political association on foreign policy, said this in an interview. Reuters…
According to Nuripur, the parties still consider the pipeline to be a “mistake” of the German government, however, he stressed, the United States has nothing to do with Nord Stream 2. It is noteworthy that this is the first time that such statements have been made by the Greens.
On Tuesday, November 23rd, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions against Transadria and the Nord Stream 2 vessel Marlin. The restrictive measures were introduced based on the American Protecting European Energy Security Act (PEESA) of 2019.
The next sanctions against the project were announced earlier by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. He said that Washington is imposing restrictions on two ships and one company involved in the pipeline project, pointing to Transadria and Marlin. He did not specify the name of the second ship, but later it became known that Washington decided not to apply restrictions against the German ship connected to the gas pipeline.
Later, the head of the State Department’s press service, Ned Price, threatened that Washington would continue to impose new sanctions against Nord Stream 2.
Commenting on the sanctions against the project, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin treats them negatively, considering them illegal and incorrect.
The Kremlin spokesman added that the restrictive measures are the wrong move against the backdrop of Washington’s attempts to develop a dialogue with Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the new sanctions against the project blatant. According to him, “motivated unilateral restrictions, which are introduced for everything by Western countries, have become a sign of the times for many years. At the same time, Lavrov noted that Moscow, for its part, is reacting “in a balanced and adequate manner.”
According to Deputy Director General of the National Energy Security Fund (NESF) Alexei Grivach, new restrictions against Nord Stream 2 were introduced by Washington out of bureaucratic inertia and are not fatal for the project. He noted that the actions of the United States are unpleasant and create inconveniences, however, he expressed confidence that shipowners and captains will adapt to them.
Grivach explained that US President Joe Biden “is being pressured by congressmen for political reasons and working off the lobbyists’ money.” For this reason, his administration imposes sanctions against individual ships every quarter, “in order, on the one hand, to adhere to agreements with Germany, and on the other, to demonstrate commitment to the policy of sanctions.”
Against the background of the introduction of new restrictions, December gas futures for delivery to the Dutch hub TTF rose 8.5 percent. On Tuesday afternoon, November 23, the gas price rose to $ 1,071.7 per thousand cubic meters.
According to Katya Yafimava, senior researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Research, the sanctions were introduced too late and will no longer affect the operation of the pipeline, since “they cannot change the fact that the pipeline has already been built.”
A clear date for the launch of the gas pipeline has not yet been determined, since on November 16 the German regulator suspended its certification. According to the laws of the European Union, the operator of a gas pipeline, completely or partially laid through the territory of the block, must be independent of the gas supplier. Therefore, Gazprom was offered to create a subsidiary structure of Nord Stream 2 AG, which will be responsible for the German section of Nord Stream 2. This threatens to delay the launch until next March, Reuters sources said.
The start-up will only be possible when the German regulator checks the updated documentation. After the appearance of reports on the suspension of certification, gas in Europe rose by 15 percent.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov stressed that the gas pipeline is technically ready, the further fate of supplies depends on legal formalities.
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