Germany, EU criticize US over Russian gas pipeline sanctions

Swift response to measures against firms building Nord Stream 2

BERLIN－Germany and the European Union have criticized White House sanctions against companies involved in building a Russian natural gas pipeline to Germany, accusing US President Donald Trump of interfering in national and bloc sovereignty.

Russia's Foreign Ministry also said in a statement on Saturday that Moscow "will continue to implement its economic projects regardless of anyone's sanctions".

US President Donald Trump signed a bill on Friday that included legislation imposing sanctions on firms laying pipes for Nord Stream 2, which seeks to double gas capacity along the northern Nord Stream pipeline route to Germany.

The sanctions, which are opposed by the European Union, were included in a sprawling defense spending bill Trump signed at a ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, an air force installation outside Washington DC.

They target companies building the nearly $11 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea to Europe's leading economy, Germany.

US lawmakers have warned the pipeline "would enrich a hostile Russian government and vastly increase President Vladimir Putin's influence in Europe at a time of heightened tension across the continent".

On Saturday, the group behind the pipeline said it would aim to complete the project quickly in an effort to minimize the damage of US sanctions.

"Completing the project is essential for European supply security. We, together with the companies supporting the project, will work on finishing the pipeline as soon as possible," Nord Stream 2 said in a statement.

While an EU spokesman criticized "the imposition of sanctions against EU companies conducting legitimate business", the German government said Berlin rejected "these sorts of extraterritorial sanctions".

"They will hit German and European companies and constitute an interference in our internal affairs," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said Berlin "firmly rejects" US sanctions but would not retaliate.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also slammed the United States, accusing it of seeking to prevent other countries from developing their economies.

"A state with $22 trillion in public debt is banning solvent countries from developing their economies," Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page, adding: "The American ideology does not like global competition. Soon they'll be asking us to stop breathing."

Washington, which has been seeking to sell more of its own liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to European countries, has said Nord Stream 2 will make Europe too reliant on Russian supplies.

Xinhua