‘Interference in domestic affairs’: Germany fumes at US sanctions on Nord Stream 2 pipeline

Berlin has rejected a package of sweeping US sanctions meant to halt the construction of the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, denouncing it as interference in its domestic affairs.

Germany “has noticed with regret that the sanctions initiated by the US Congress against Nord Stream2 and Turkstream [pipelines] came into force after being signed by the US president,” deputy government spokesperson Ulrike Demmer tweeted on Saturday.

The federal government rejects such extraterritorial sanctions. They affect German and European companies and represent interference in our domestic affairs.

The sanctions are part of a 2020 defense spending bill President Donald Trump signed on Friday. They flag companies contributing to halt the construction of the $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline which spans between Russia and Germany.

Under the legislation, US visas and American properties owned by those continues will be revoked and frozen. Allseas, a Swiss-Dutch company laying underwater tubes for the pipeline off the Danish coast, already announced it is suspending operations in the area.

Berlin has been consistently opposed to the sanctions, with some politicians even calling for an in-kind response and a ban on imports of American liquefied natural gas to Germany.

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