Germany shifted responsibility for exit from Nord Stream 2 to companies

"The decisions always remain with the enterprises Our position on extraterritorial sanctions is known: we reject them", - official representative of the Federal Republic of Germany government Steffen Seibert told TASS.

The politician thus commented on reports in the media that over a dozen companies have left the project. He stressed that Berlin is in favor of maintaining gas transit through Ukraine.

“I think our American friends know the position of the federal government”, - Seibert said.

On February 23, it became known that a subsidiary of the German reinsurance company Munich RE Syndicate refused to provide insurance services for Nord Stream 2, fearing that Washington would impose sanctions against its company. Prior to that, the Swiss insurance company Zurich Insurance Group stopped working on the project. Before that, 18 companies refused to cooperate with NS-2. The Nord Stream 2 press service does not comment on the contractors' decisions. They only declare that "the governments and the European Commission should protect European companies from extraterritorial sanctions, which in turn believe that such sanctions are contrary to international law and violate energy sovereignty".

The second sanctions package against Nord Stream 2 was adopted in the United States in relation to service and insurance companies, without which the project can be completed, but it cannot be put into operation. Before that, America had already imposed sanctions against companies involved in the construction of this gas pipeline.

At the same time, the administration of the new US President Joe Biden has promised not to include Germany in the new list of sanctions against Nord Stream 2.