BRUSSELS, August 14. /TASS/. The European Commission has confirmed communication between the EU  and the US Department of State regarding the US sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

Earlier on Friday, German newspaper Die Welt reported that 24 EU countries had contacted the US Department of State and expressed protests over the US sanctions in connection with the construction of the gas pipeline. According to the newspaper’s sources, the protests were voiced during a video conference on August 12. Only three EU states did not join the demarche, the newspaper said without naming the countries.

"What I can tell you is that there was an informal outreach, which the EU member states joined on a voluntary basis," the European Commission’s official said on Friday responding to a relevant question from journalists.

The EC official also said that the EU is "very much united" on the issue of the US sanctions and during the "informal outreach" they reiterated their common position they expressed in a statement in July.

"As you now, we are deeply concerned by the decision of the US Department of State to update the guidance on Section 232 with respect to Russia’s energy and export pipeline and Countering America’s Adversaries Through the Sanctions Act, which broadens the scope of sanctions to include activities in support of Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream," the official said.

Last week, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported that in a letter dated August 5, US senators threatened the operator of the German port of Mukran, Faehrhafen Sassnitz GmbH, with significant repercussions if it does not immediately stop providing the harbor as a logistics base for Nord Stream 2. It is in that harbor where the Akademik Chersky pipe-laying vessel, which was named as a possible vessel to complete the gas pipeline, is moored, and pipes for this pipeline are stored.