The US might impose sanctions against Nord Stream 2
The United States is attempting to prevent the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project. They have not ruled out the possibility of sanctions against the company, which is engaged in the construction of the gas pipeline, the representative of the US State Department, Sandra Oudkirk said in Berlin, according to Spiegel Online.
According to Oudkirk, the US expects that the problem can be solved diplomatically. "We will be happy if the project is never implemented," the representative of the State Department said.
Oudkirk doubts that negotiations on gas transit between Russia and Ukraine can be successful. She stated that the US resistance to North Stream 2 has economic and geopolitical reasons; in particular, the US wants to sell Europe liquefied gas.
It was reported that construction of the German section of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was started in Germany. The work began on an area of about six hectares to excavate the foundation pit and lay a foundation for the gas receiving station of the future gas pipeline in the city of Lubmin, the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
On March 21, European Parliament deputies supported the European Commission's bill that extends the rules of the EU internal gas market to gas pipelines that are not located on the continent. In Brussels, it was noted that the Nord Stream 2 project does not comply with the norms of the Third Energy Package of the EU, since it is solely owned by the Russian Gazprom.
A joint statement against the construction of the Nord Stream 2 was made by the parliaments of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Estonia.
The Nord Stream 2 system consists of two parallel branches of the pipeline, with a capacity of about 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year.