MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2020) US senators are planning to expand sanctions against Russia's Nord Stream 2 project to insurance companies that work with Russian vessels involved in completing the pipeline, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing bipartisan draft legislation.
According to the news agency, the previously enacted sanctions apply to all pipe-laying activities and insurance, but the new bill would expand them to companies that provide "underwriting services or insurance or reinsurance" for vessels involved in the project.
It would also target companies that provide "services or facilities for technology upgrades or installation of welding equipment for, or retrofitting or tethering" of such ships.
The bill is sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who secured sanctions against the pipeline in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.
Back then, in December, Allseas, the Swiss company responsible for laying down the pipes, quit the Russian-led project under the threat of sanctions with just 100 miles of the pipeline left to lay.
Russia is now finishing the twin pipeline, which will carry up to 1.942 trillion cubic feet of gas per year to Germany, on its own.
