German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that the German government will not change its position on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline after the change in US leadership.
“There is no need to bring up the topic of European sovereignty if this means that in the future we must do everything just the way Washington wants,” he said in an interview with the DPA agency, answering a question about the implementation of the pipeline project in the context the upcoming inauguration of the next head of the US administration on January 20, 2021.
"The federal government will not change its position on Nord Stream 2," Maas stressed.
Earlier, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov called the US sanctions against the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline "an open cowboy raider attack." He noted that, despite the sanctions, the project participants manage to continue working and "approaching its completion."
Senior US administration officials said last Wednesday that Washington is calling on European allies and private companies to halt work that might help build the pipeline and is preparing broader sanctions on the project in the coming weeks.
Gazprom's western partners on the project are German Uniper, Wintershall Dea from BASF, Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell, Austrian OMV and Engie.
