The German Foreign Ministry has responded to threats from US senators to impose sanctions on the port used to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. According to State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry Niels Annen, such statements are an infringement on the sovereignty of Germany.
“The US policy of extraterritorial sanctions against close partners and allies is a serious interference with our national sovereignty,” a German diplomat told Handelsblatt.
Earlier, US Senators Ted Cruz, Ronald Johnson, and Thomas Cotton signed a letter to the management of the port operator Fährhafen Sassnitz, in which they threatened the enterprise with the financial collapse in the event of cooperation with companies involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2. Earlier, the same senators initiated consideration of a bill that should significantly expand sanctions against all participants in the Russian-German project. In accordance with their proposals, the sanctions should be extended to any companies involved in the modernization and maintenance of ships, as well as pipe-laying work in the interests of the project. In addition, sanctions must be applied against insurance companies and firms that will certify the pipeline.
