According to RIA Novosti, he said this during his speech at the German Marshall Fund's expert center in Washington.
“Companies that are laying pipelines for Nord Stream 2 need to immediately cease their activities,” he said, noting that the US authorities should work on this process.
Earlier media reported that the US House of Representatives supported the bill, which requires the administration of US leader Donald Trump to impose sanctions against Nord Stream 2.
Later, the President of the German-Russian Chamber of Industry, the head of the Austrian oil and gas concern OMV, Rainer Seele, called on Europe to take measures in response to US sanctions against the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.
In turn, the official representative of the “Alternative for Germany” faction in the Bundestag on energy issues, Steffen Kotre, said that the German government had “capitulated” to the United States on the issue of Nord Stream-2.