Kremlin calls US actions against Nord Stream-2 'international racketeering'
The press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, stated that the Kremlin sees the United States’ hostile attitude towards the Russian project "Nord Stream-2" as attempts of unfair competition, reports RBC news agency.
“We are all aware that we are dealing with attempts of unfair competition, and sometimes with actions that are actually comparable to racketeering and raiding on the international level,” he said.
Peskov added that instead, the White House should think about how to convince Europeans to buy the United States liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is ten percent more expensive than Russian gas.
Earlier, on March 12, The Wall Street Journal, citing several U.S. administration officials, said that the U.S. authorities intend to impose sanctions on the investors and companies that are involved in laying the Nord Stream-2 pipeline. In August 2018, the newspaper wrote that the United States sanctions bill, which could stop the construction of the pipeline, is almost ready.
Previously, the United States President, Donald Trump, claimed that the flow of the" pipeline dollars” from European countries to Russia is unacceptable.
The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline began in 2018 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2019. The 1220-km pipeline will run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea from the Russian coast to the coast of Germany. The capacity of each of the two lines is 27.5 billion cubic meters per year.
The new gas pipeline will double the capacity of the first Nord Stream, the route of which it will basically repeat.