WASHINGTON, January 20./TASS/. The US will not win from slapping sanctions on participants in the project to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in an attempt to force European countries to buy American raw materials, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said on Tuesday in comments on US unilateral sanctions against the pipe-laying barge ‘Fortuna’ involved in the construction of the pipeline.
"Washington has long been trying by all means to hinder the implementation of this international commercial project. Several legislative measures have been adopted. Groundless threats are constantly being voiced against Russia and its European partners interested in cooperation in the gas sector," the Russian diplomat was quoted on the embassy’s Facebook page.
"There is rough pressure exerted on the participants of the Nord Stream-2 consortium," Anatoly Antonov emphasized.
"The United States went beyond decency in an attempt to achieve its opportunistic goals. They violate the norms of international law, the principles of fair and free trade. They don't even take into consideration the opinion of their own allies," the senior diplomat said.
"All this is nothing more than blatant unfair competition. The desire to create an advantage for itself in the energy market of Europe, to force the countries of the region to buy American raw materials. In the end there will be no winners in this venture," Antonov stressed.
The US authorities imposed sanctions against the Fortuna vessel, which is involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, and its owner, the KBT-Rus company, the US Treasury Department announced on its website on Tuesday.
The sanctions were imposed in the framework of the CAATSA (Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act). Inclusion in the sanctions list means asset freezing in the United States and the ban for US citizens or firms on engaging in business with persons in the list.