US Senate approves new sanctions against Nord Stream 2

Gazprom, like Carthage, must and will be destroyed. First of all, because of its inefficiency and simply refusal to work with the giant monopolist Europeans. For a monopolist, this means splitting into several suppliers and liquidating the legal entity itself. North Stream 2 is likely to be completed, but it will be a Pyrrhic victory. Once Merkel loses her post, Germany will follow the path of Lithuania and Poland and switch to LNG. US sanctions will have only an indirect effect on this turn to liquefied gas instead of pipeline gas. By the way, now you can clearly see whether Trump is an agent of Putin's influence or not. Given the large majority in the Senate FOR this bill, Trump runs the risk of going against the US establishment. The US Senate has approved the draft defense budget for fiscal 2021, which includes new sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 project. The document, which was approved by the House of Representatives earlier this week, received 86 votes in favor and only 14 against. The $ 740.5 billion defense budget law contains a provision tightening the sanctions regime against the project of the second branch of the Nord Stream, which has been under sanctions since last December, effectively halting construction. The new sanctions are for “facilitating the sale, lease or provision” of pipe-laying vessels for the construction of gas pipelines, “provision of insurance and reinsurance”, and services or premises for the “technical modernization” of vessels associated with the construction of the gas pipeline. "The bill expands US sanctions on companies involved in construction," said John Barrasso, one of the authors of the document, after the vote. “These sanctions will help us stop the construction of this gas pipeline and eliminate this geopolitical weapon of Russia,” he stressed. The bill will now be sent for signature to President Donald Trump, who has previously threatened to veto it. The document, in particular, contains a ban on reducing the number of American troops in Germany and Afghanistan, and also spelled out restrictions on the use of funds from the military budget for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico. The US Embassy in Berlin has already begun to call in representatives of the German companies involved in the construction of Nord Stream 2, the executive director of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy, Michael Harms, said earlier this week. Rossiyskaya Gazeta He warned that the US authorities could block the accounts of participating firms and apply sanctions to the banks financing the project. According to Kharms, the threat of US sanctions could become a "dangerous precedent" and the EU "must act effectively against this." We need to avoid other states coming up with similar ideas, ”he said. Committee chairman Oliver Hermes on July 16 called the sanctions an unprecedented interference with the EU's energy sovereignty, adding that Europe needs an "effective shield" to protect companies that are "unjustly hit by US sanctions to protect them from financial damage."