Heiko Maas is Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs.
MOSCOW, Aug 12 (NNN-Xinhua) — German and Russian foreign ministers rejected US sanctions threat against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
“No state has the right to dictate Europe’s energy policy with threats, and this will not succeed,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters on Tuesday following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
The Nord Stream 2 is a multinational offshore natural gas pipeline project that will transport natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea. When finished, the 1,230-km pipeline will have the ability to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Russia to Europe.
Citing energy security concerns, the United States has repeatedly threatened to impose sanctions on the project’s participants.
“We must state that sanctions between partners are indeed the wrong and false path. In the end, it is our sovereign decision where we will buy energy from,” Maas said.
Lavrov said that despite the threat of sanctions, the project would be completed “in the very near future.”
Lavrov added that the United States pursues “roughly one goal: to have the opportunity and the right to do whatever it pleases in the world’s politics, economy and in any sector of human activity.”
That’s why Washington abandons all multilateral agreements and exits from all multinational organizations or any structures that it considers as containing its freedom of action in one way or another, Lavrov said.
Last week, three U.S. senators threatened German port operator Faehrhafen Sassnitz with sanctions over its support of the project.
In their letter published on Friday, the three senators warned that the port operator could destroy its future financial viability if it does not cease all cooperation with companies working on the pipeline.
Maas said on Monday that he had complained to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the senators’ threat.
“I mentioned it in a telephone call yesterday (on Sunday) and expressed my surprise and displeasure,” said Maas.
U.S. President Donald Trump has long voiced his discontent with the Nord Stream 2 project, complaining about Germany’s large payment to Russia on energy and “delinquency” on military spending.
The German government and officials have repeatedly condemned the U.S. sanctions threat and Washington’s extraterritorial administration. — NNN-XINHUA
