BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2021) The negotiations between the United States and Germany on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline continue, a German government source told Sputnik on Tuesday, declining to divulge further details.
On Monday, Reuters reported, citing sources, that Berlin and Washington were close to unveiling a deal that would avert resumption of currently waived US sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG, the pipeline's parent company, and its Chief Executive Officer Matthias Warnig.
"As the Federal Chancellor [Angela Merkel] said last week, the federal government is negotiating with the US authorities on Nord Stream 2. These negotiations are ongoing. As usual, we do not comment on specific topics of the talks," the source said.
The White House said earlier in the day that it expected the US Department of State to provide more details on the reported Nord Stream 2 deal "soon."
The Russia-led project, which is nearly complete, aims at transporting natural gas from Russia directly to Germany. Washington, being a vocal opponent of Nord Stream 2 and branding it as a threat to European energy independence, has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on companies and businesspeople engaged in the project. Berlin, however, continues to support the pipeline's construction and has condemned Washington's attempts to disrupt it.
The two sides have agreed that the US and the EU should ensure that the pipeline is not used to pressure Ukraine and that Kiev continues to have access to gas transit. Russia, in turn, has maintained that the project is purely economic and urged others to stop politicizing the issue.
