MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) Sanctions on Nord Stream 2, should the United States act on its threat to impose them, will be of no substantial effect on the gas pipeline's completion, Anton Friesen, a member of the German parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee from the Alternative for Germany party, told Sputnik on Thursday.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Nord Stream 2 and part of TurkStream, another of Russia's gas export pipelines to Europe, would be added to the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, meaning that companies involved with the pipelines are now at risk of US sanctions.
"This step won't have any significant impact on Nord Stream 2. Russia will build the last meters of the pipeline," Friesen said.
According to the German lawmaker, the move has been brought about by the US "escalating before the presidential elections in November." All the more so because the US's own fracking gas revenues were painfully hit by the global decline of energy demand and subsequent drop of prices, Friesen said.
The lawmaker spoke pessimistically about prospects of the US gas, saying that the global crises made it "lose ground" and head "all the way to bankruptcy."
Nord Stream 2 is a 745-mile-long offshore twin pipeline on the final stage of its construction. It will carry Russian gas directly to Germany through the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden.
Arriving at a reception terminal in the northern German coastal town of Lubmin, Nord Stream 2 can be connected to the European pipeline network to supply across Europe and secure enough energy for up to 26 million households.
The United States has right away been opposed to the project and followed up with economic sanctions on companies working on the pipeline. It prompted, for example, Swiss company AllSeas to abandon the project, to which Russia vowed to finish the construction on its own.�
