BERLIN, August 10. /TASS/. The German cabinet maintains contacts with companies exposed to US sanctions because of the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, official spokesperson of the German government Steffen Seibert said on Monday.

"Our position on such exterritorial sanctions is known," Seibert said, recalling that Berlin denies them. "The German government is in contact with companies threatened by sanctions," the spokesperson said.

German authorities "are discussing further steps with European partners, the European External Action Service and the European Commission," Seibert added.

Washington’s sanctions against companies participating in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project "contradict the law," Spokesman of the German Foreign Ministry Christopher Burger said in his turn.

US senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton and Ron Johnson wrote a letter to the management of Faehrhafen Sassnitz GmbH and alerted them about grave consequences unless the company stops using the port of Mukran as the logistical base for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Handelsblatt newspaper reported last week. Faehrhafen Sassnitz GmbH is 90% owned by the city of Sassnitz and the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania holds the 10% stake in the port operator.

The Nord Stream 2 project envisages the construction of two pipeline strings with a total capacity of 55 bln cubic meters per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. To date, 93% of Nord Stream 2 has been finished. The construction was suspended at the end of 2019 when the Swiss pipe-laying company Allseas stopped work due to US sanctions.