In late December 2019, U.S. President Trump signed a bill imposing sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project which is led by Russia’s Gazprom. If completed, the pipeline would send natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, running parallel to the first Nord Stream pipeline and doubling its capacity. The pipeline has been widely criticized as a tool for Russia to bypass Ukraine as a gas transit hub and for increasing Russia’s leverage over Germany.
The threat of sanctions from the U.S. has caused Allseas, a Swiss-Dutch company that lays deep-sea pipe, to suspend work on the project. According to U.S. Senators that introduced the legislation, the sanctions are intended to stop the project. As of December 2019, only a 160-km stretch remains uncompleted. Despite U.S. sanctions, Russia officials believe that the pipeline will be operational before the end of 2020.
