‘Maniacal’ US fighting Germany over gas pipeline & harming European security due to ‘own economic interests’ – top Russian MP

Washington’s latest sanctions aimed at European firms constructing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline are a “bad sign” for the continent and proof of the US’ policy of “state blackmail and terror,” according to a prominent Russian MP.

Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the Russian Parliament’s Committee on International Affairs, said in a weekend statement that “the United States, in its maniacal persistence, is trying to disrupt the creation of the [world’s] largest gas pipeline… and unfair competition between Washington and Moscow is hitting European companies like an extraterritorial missile.”

He added that America was opposing the project “in the name of its own economic interests,” and that “the less they dance to Washington’s tune in Brussels, the safer it will be on our common European continent.”

Construction of Nord Stream 2 resumed at the start of December. It had been paused after a number of firms pulled out, citing the US’ threats of punitive measures, including sanctions and travel bans. If completed, it will link Siberia’s natural gas fields to consumers in Western Europe via an underwater link across the Baltic Sea, terminating near the German port of Greifswald. The partnership behind the project, which includes Russian state-owned Gazprom as well as UK, German and French energy firms, insists it will “meet growing demands of consumers in Europe.”

The US has previously called the pipeline a “grave threat” to Europe’s “energy security, and American national security.” However, there has been widespread speculation that the US’ position is also influenced by a desire to sell vast quantities of American shale gas to the continent. Politico has previously reported that a common refrain in Berlin is, “the Americans don’t care about Russia; they just want to sell us their fracking gas.” 

In an interview with RT on Monday, the director of Moscow’s Institute for Political Studies said the economic case for Nord Stream 2 made it likely that Berlin would continue to fight against US sanctions in order for it to be built. According to Sergey Markov, Russia’s gas supply is “cheap and stable,” allowing German companies “to make their products more competitive and, therefore, corner the market.”

In August, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas turned fire on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the threat of “crushing legal sanctions” being considered by US lawmakers. He insisted that there was a high chance that the project would be completed, adding that the only “question is, when.”

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