BERLIN – Berlin believes that any sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project are wrong, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said.
“Nord Stream 2 does not envisage any special German-Russian path. We are also saying that to critics of the project, both in Europe and in Washington,” Maas said in a speech at the New Year reception at the Eastern Committee of the German Economy in Berlin seen by Interfax.
He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged last year that the gas transit via Ukraine will be continued after the gas pipeline is built.
“We are supporting the talks, which the European Commission is conducting on this basis with Russia and Ukraine. Imposing unilateral sanctions with regard to Nord Stream 2 is an incorrect path in any case. I put it clearly to Mike Pompeo [the U.S. secretary of state],” the minister said.
Sanctions are not an end itself, they make sense only when they are linked to concrete requirements, as it is the case with the EU sanctions on Russia, Maas said.
“In case of American sanctions on Russia, this is unfortunately not so,” he said.
