Russia on Saturday slammed new US sanctions against the Nord Stream-2 and Turkish Stream pipelines, saying that a state with unprecedented debt, forbids others from developing their economies.
“A state with a national debt of $22 trillion forbids creditworthy countries from developing the real sector of their economies! The American ideology of life did not withstand global competition, which the US Treasury regularly confirms by issuing a new ‘warrant for economic arrest’,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook account.
The US Treasury Department late on Friday issued an explanation, stating that US sanctions against the Nord Stream-2 and Turkish Stream pipelines took effect immediately and that the US was demanding construction companies to stop their work.
US President Donald Trump signed on Friday the $738 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that includes sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Turkey and Syria along with a range of other measures.
The legislation calls for mandatory sanctions on Nord Stream 2 and TurkStream pipelines, and bars military-to-military cooperation with Russia. The bill also sanctions Turkey over its acquisition of Russian S-400 air defense systems and prohibits the transfer of F-35 jets to Ankara.
The new set of US sanctions will target companies and individuals involved in providing services on the pipeline and have their US visas revoked and financial assets in the US frozen. The bill also provides for a 30-day grace period for them to wind down their operations in the project.
The Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture between Gazprom and five European companies: France’s Engie, Austria’s OMV, the UK-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, and Germany’s Uniper and Wintershall. The 745-mile-long twin pipeline will carry up to 55 billion cubic meters (1.942 trillion cubic feet) of gas per year from Russia to Germany through the territorial waters or exclusive economic zones of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden.
Source: Sputnik
