WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States issued fresh sanctions on Wednesday on several Russia-based entities over their involvement in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the State Department said, including new measures against the operator of the project.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement it was re-imposing sanctions on a number of entities involved in the construction of the pipeline that were already designated, as well as several new owners of vessels already under sanctions.
Among those targeted on Wednesday were Russia-based marine services and water transport entities, the state-owned maritime rescue service and over a dozen vessels, the State Department said.
Also targeted was Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the project, and a Russia-based insurer that provided insurance to companies involved in the project, the State Department said.
Nord Stream 2, built across the Baltic Sea by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom to pump natural gas to Germany, was damaged on Sept. 26, 2022 in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. No one has taken responsibility.
Some Western officials have suggested Moscow blew up its own pipelines, an interpretation dismissed as “idiotic” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has blamed the United States, Britain and Ukraine for the blasts, which largely cut Russian gas off from the lucrative European market. Those countries have denied involvement.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Timothy Gardner, Ismail Shakil and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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