US issues fresh sanctions related to Nord Stream 2 pipeline

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States issued fresh sanctions on Wednesday on several Russia-based entities over their involvement in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the State Department said, including new measures against the operator of the project.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it was re-imposing sanctions on a number of entities involved in the construction of the pipeline that were already designated, as well as several new owners of vessels already under sanctions.

Among those targeted on Wednesday were Russia-based marine services and water transport entities, the state-owned maritime rescue service and over a dozen vessels, the State Department said.

Also targeted was Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the project, and a Russia-based insurer that provided insurance to companies involved in the project, the State Department said.

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the United States is maintaining its opposition to Nord Stream 2 as a Russian geopolitical project and efforts to revive it.

“We’re going to continue to work and ensure that Russia is never able to weaponize its energy resources and its energy positioning for political gain,” Patel told reporters in a news briefing.

Nord Stream 2, built under the Baltic Sea by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom to pump natural gas from the Arctic to Germany, was damaged on Sept. 26, 2022, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of that year. No one has taken responsibility.

Even before Russia’s invasion, Washington opposed Nord Stream 2 because it would have allowed Russia to bypass Ukraine, potentially depriving it of billions of dollars in transit fees and undermining the country’s efforts against Russian aggression.

Some Western officials have suggested that Moscow blew up its own pipelines, an interpretation dismissed as “idiotic” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last year the Washington Post reported that the United States had intelligence of a Ukrainian plan to attack Nord Stream 2 months before it was damaged.

Russia has blamed the United States, Britain and Ukraine for the blasts, which largely cut Russian gas off from the lucrative European market. Those countries have denied involvement.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Timothy Gardner, Ismail Shakil and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Mark Porter)