US sanctions targeting the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany became law on Friday evening after President Donald Trump signed off on a massive defense bill.
The sanctions target companies involved in constructing the $11 billion (€9.93 billion) energy project, which will transport Russian gas under the Baltic Sea and deliver it directly to Germany.
The bill describes Nord Stream 2 as a “tool of coercion and political leverage” that Moscow could use against Berlin — and says it risks significantly weakening US ties to Germany and other European allies.
US lawmakers in both houses of Congress overwhelmingly approved the sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has condemned the measures, urging the US not to meddle in European energy policy. “They affect German and other European businesses, and we see the move as meddling in our internal affairs,” a government spokeswoman said.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz called the sanctions “a severe intervention in German and European internal affairs.”
The sanctions are also opposed by the European Union. A spokesman slammed “the imposition of sanctions against EU companies conducting legitimate business.”
Russia: US pushing ideology
Russian President Vladimir Putin has already vowed to continue with the project and has threatened “reciprocal” measures. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the United States of pushing an ideology that hindered global trade, adding on her Facebook page: “Soon they will demand that we stop breathing.”
Ahead of the sanctions being signed into law, Swiss-Dutch company Allseas suspended its pipe-laying activities. The company was hired by Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom to build the offshore section.
The pipeline was expected to become operational in the next few months, although the completion date for the project has now been thrown into doubt.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
[…] über Trump turns the screws on Nordstream 2. — Tallbloke’s Talkshop […]
Some gas will go via Ukraine instead.
Russia, Ukraine Reach Gas-Transit Deal
December 20, 2019
Gazprom supplies more than 36 percent of the European Union’s gas market. The EU has been mediating the talks to secure a new agreement.
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-reach-gas-transit-deal/30336660.html
Maybe if Germany stopped being suckers and playing along with the CAGW scam and the green deal they wouldn’t need all the Russian gas to keep their industry powered up.
Fuhrer Merkel’s insistence on pushing all things green has lead to this – after all Germany has enough coal to give them power for the people and industry for enough years until small nuclear reactors can take over and reduce power costs.
This is pure racism by America, it’s depressing that only anti-Russian racism is able to unite the Democrats and Republicans. No nation on earth has ever achieved the heights of hypocrisy of the narcissistically puritanical US of today. Discrimination against any dark skinned people is sanctioned – rightly – with jowl-flapping indignation and an ecstasy of self-righteousness. But anyone capable of looking at a Russian without experiencing an involuntary gas chamber fantasy is unpatriotic and unAmerican. A nauseating cesspit of hypocrisy and double standards.
Reblogged this on Gds44's Blog.
All of a sudden (see blog post title) Russia finds Ukraine OK to do business with again…
Russia’s Gazprom pays $2.9 bn to settle Ukraine dispute
21 Dec 2019
https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/russias-gazprom-pays-2-9-bn-to-settle-ukraine-dispute/