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France disapproves of US extraterritorial sanctions leading to tension with Russia

According to the minister, the sanctions harm not only relations between France and Russia, but also relations between European countries

French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire

© AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. France disapproves of the extraterritorial sanctions of the United States, which create difficulties in relations with Russia, Minister of Economy of France Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday.

"Our position is that we do not approve of extraterritorial sanctions in general, which create great difficulties in the development of trade and other relations between European countries and Russia. These issues affect not only banks, but large enterprises of the space industry and other innovative enterprises," he said, answering a question about how the US sanctions might affect the participation of French companies in the projects Nord Stream 2 and Arctic LNG 2.

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According to him, the sanctions harm not only relations between France and Russia, but also relations between European countries.

Le Maire added that he discussed this issue with US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross during his visit to Washington.

In August 2017, President of the United States Donald Trump signed a law expanding a number of sectoral sanctions against the Russian economy. The law, in particular, suggests that the sanctions might be imposed on people investing in the construction of Russian export pipelines more than $5 mln per year or $1 mln at a time.

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