MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The Nord Stream 2 project is still facing rough pressure from the United States, while the restrictions, which are illegal from the point of view of international law, are growing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
"This international project is still facing crude, illegal pressure from the United States of America," he said.
According to the Kremlin official, "actions aimed at introducing restrictions, which are illegal from the point of view of international law, on economic operators, including those related to this project, are still ongoing and growing."
On Monday, the Handelsblat newspaper reported that the US government intends to introduce sanctions against the Fortuna vessel involved in construction of the Nord Stream 2 vessel and KVT-Rus company, its owner.
The Nord Stream 2 project contemplates 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, 94% of Nord Stream 2 has been finished.
Gazprom is implementing the project together with its European partners. The construction of the pipeline was suspended in December 2019 after Switzerland's Allseas stopped pipe-laying due to possible US sanctions. In December 2020, project operator Nord Stream 2 AG resumed pipe laying, building a 2.6 km pipeline in the German exclusive economic zone using the Russian pipe-laying barge Fortuna. Now it has become known that the US plans to impose sanctions against this ship and its owner. Gazprom is counting on the commissioning of Nord Stream 2 within a reasonable time frame. The holding notes that Nord Stream 2 remains one of its priority investment projects in 2021.