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US statements about Arctic LNG-2 tantamount to threats — Russian MFA

The Nord Stream affair began "with exactly the same statements by the US president and representatives of the US Department of State about the need for destroying these projects"

MOSCOW, November 15. /TASS/. Washington's statements regarding the Arctic LNG-2 project are tantamount to threats, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has told a news briefing.

She drew attention to remarks by US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, Geoffrey Pyatt, that Washington was pressing for the termination of the Arctic LNG-2 project.

The Nord Stream affair began "with exactly the same statements by the US president and representatives of the US Department of State about the need for destroying these projects."

"The explosions of these infrastructure projects followed six months later. Now there have been more threats against infrastructure projects in the same sphere," Zakharova said.

According to Zakharova, the United States has embarked on the path of intimidation and realization of threats against infrastructure projects.

"This is about competitive preferences for the US. They are unable to achieve them in a competitive environment, they are losing this competition, they are ruining everything that stops them from getting ahead," the diplomat added.

On November 2, the US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Arctic LNG-2 and set January 31, 2024 as the deadline to finalize any deals related to the energy project. Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson said at the Verona Eurasian Economic Forum that the US sanctions against the Arctic LNG-2 project are a sign of his company’s professionalism.

Arctic LNG-2 is Novatek’s second LNG project. It envisages building three LNG production lines with a capacity of 6.6 million tons per year each and producing up to 1.6 million tons per year of stable gas condensate. The project will source gas from the Utrenneye field on the Gydan Peninsula in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. The first, second and third lines are scheduled to go live in 2023, 2024 and 2026, respectively.

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