Baltic Sea Pipeline: US government wants to impose first sanctions for Nord Stream 2

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The US government wants to impose sanctions for the first time because of the German-Russian Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2.

The punitive measures should be announced this Tuesday and affect the Russian laying ship "Fortuna" involved in the construction of the pipeline, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics of the German Press Agency.

The US embassy in Berlin informed the federal government about this on Monday.

"We take note of this with regret." The "Handelsblatt" had previously reported on it.

So far, the US government has only threatened sanctions for the controversial gas pipeline, but has not yet imposed any.

With the new punitive measures, the administration of Donald Trump wants to implement the threat for the first time shortly before its end of office this Wednesday.

The US State Department initially did not comment on request.

Affected companies were contacted

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A US government official said back in November that the government had identified a number of companies and individuals facing initial sanctions.

A spokeswoman for the US State Department announced last Wednesday that the companies concerned had been contacted.

They were informed about the risk based on the new sanctions law, should they continue to participate in Nord Stream 2.

The Trump administration, but also Congress, have been storming Nord Stream 2 for a long time. At the end of 2019, construction work on the pipeline was stopped shortly before completion after the USA had enacted a first sanctions law (Peesa) against the special ships, who laid the pipes.

The two Swiss laying vessels were withdrawn.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would complete the pipeline independently - regardless of foreign partners.

Work had resumed last month.

At the beginning of the year, a US law came into force that expanded the sanction options.

Under this new law (Peesca), companies that provide ships for other activities related to laying work can also be penalized.

This could include digging trenches for the pipeline.

Companies that insure affected ships or make their port facilities available to them are also threatened with sanctions.

The same goes for companies that certify the pipeline so that it can go live.