US State Department spokesman Ned Price allowed further action against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Reported by RIA Novosti.
Price recalled that the US Treasury Department had included the pipe-laying vessel Fortuna and its owner, KBT-Rus, on the sanctions list, and said that this was “not the end of the story.” He explained that every 90 days the State Department must share with Congress information about what activities on Nord Stream 2 are subject to sanctions.
“If we determine that an organization is engaged in activities subject to sanctions, as written in the law, we will report this in the next report,” Price said. He admitted that the next such report will be presented in May.
Earlier, senators called on US President Joe Biden to impose sanctions against companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. In their letter, 40 Republican senators expressed concern over the fact that the Biden administration never imposed sanctions on the ships and companies involved in the construction of the pipeline, while all information about them is in the public domain.
Nord Stream 2 is a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, laid along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. It was supposed to be put into operation at the end of 2019, but the completion of construction had to be postponed due to US sanctions. Construction is being hampered in Washington as American liquefied natural gas (LNG) competes with Russian pipeline fuel for the European market.
