Bit by bit, the US is tightening the sanctions screw against Nord Stream 2. After the recent sanctions threats, Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is seeking dialogue with his US counterpart.
Berlin (AP) - Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has complained to his US counterpart Mike Pompeo about the latest threat of sanctions because of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
In a telephone conversation with Pompeo, Maas said in Berlin that he was "alienated" by the letter from three senators to the Sassnitz ferry port on Rügen. In it, the members of the Republican Party of US President Donald Trump threatened the operators and shareholders of the port with a ban on entry into the United States and property freezing in the United States. This had caused outrage across all parties in Germany and raised calls for countermeasures.
Pompeo is traveling to Europe this Tuesday but is not coming to Germany. Instead, he visits the neighboring countries of the Czech Republic, Austria and Poland. We are also going to Slovenia.
Trump has been criticizing the pipeline between Russia and Germany for years - Germany allows itself to be militarily protected from Russia, but at the same time gives Moscow high revenues from gas exports. Critics accuse Trump of only wanting to prevent the pipeline in order to be able to sell more American liquefied gas in Europe.
At the end of 2019, Trump enabled the first punitive measures against certain companies involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2. However, these mainly affected the laying vessels from Switzerland. Now for the first time it is going directly against a German company.
The Sassnitz ferry port plays a central role in the construction of the pipeline with its two strands, which are to be 2,460 kilometers long. Only a good 150 kilometers are still missing. The steel pipes required for the completion are stored in Sassnitz and were encased in concrete in a factory in Mukran. In addition, the Russian laying ship "Akademik Tscherski" is moored there, which is supposed to complete the pipeline construction together with the Russian ship "Fortuna".
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