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Nord Stream 2 will be completed regardless of threats from US, as Europeans 'feel humiliated' - FM Lavrov

The pipeline "will come true anyway, despite all these threats," as will the TurkStream - another project on the radar of US lawmakers - he added.

"First, I am confident that Europeans understand their commercial interest. Second, their interest in terms of ensuring long-term energy security. Third, of course, they have been humiliated."

"Our European partners still keep their self-esteem," Lavrov believes.

Germany, one of the main stakeholders in the project, has fiercely resisted US sanctions, referring to them as "interference in our domestic affairs," while the EU says that companies doing business legally shouldn't suffer any pressure.

Also this week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the 'Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act', which targets Russian banks, the cyber sector, and the country's sovereign debt. It was called the "sanctions bill from hell" by its sponsor, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who explained that it is aimed at imposing broad penalties.

If the sanctions come into force, they won't be left unanswered, the Russian foreign minister promised.

"We will respond to sanctions, but in such a way that we do not harm ourselves. But we will respond for sure."

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Still, it is difficult to understand what encourages lawmakers to back the avalanche of sanctions, Lavrov said.

"This is very difficult to understand, because I knew most of these congressmen, members of the House, senators, especially the Democratic Party, either through someone or in person. I never thought that these politicians could get to decisions that don't do credit to serious statesmen."

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The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is going to be completed despite the latest US sanctions, former US diplomat Jim Jatras told RT, adding that the last-ditch attempt to derail its launch is a gesture of despair by Washington.

"Nord Stream 2 will be completed. I think that this latest round of sanctions and this cessation of workers is a hiccup. It will be finished and will go into operation."

The diplomat argued that the last-ditch attempt by the US to put a spanner in the works means that the Washington establishment "cannot admit that their policy is failed. We have only one reality - that is Russia is bad, and this thing that connects Russia to Europe is bad too. We must do whatever we can to stop it, and if we cannot stop it then just make life difficult for everyone. Is this a voice of a friend who is saying we want partnership with Europe, we want to have best relationship we can with Europe? Or is this a voice of a master, who dictates to other countries as though they were vassal states or satellites?

Regarding the European business community: "I hope they're waking up, smelling the coffee and seeing where their interest lies."

"At the moment, the [European] Commission is studying the potential impact of these measures on European companies." Brussels opposes sanctions that affect European firms doing business according to the law, the official stressed.

The EU had made sure that the pipeline project was functioning "in a transparent and non-discriminatory" way - and these directives have been acknowledged by the US itself. Russia and Germany, two major stakeholders of the Nord Stream 2, have previously denounced the sanctions as well.

Germany "has noticed with regret that the sanctions initiated by the US Congress against Nord Stream2 and Turkstream [pipelines] came into force after being signed by the US president," deputy government spokesperson Ulrike Demmer tweeted on Saturday. "The federal government rejects such extraterritorial sanctions. They affect German and European companies and represent interference in our domestic affairs."

Berlin has been consistently opposed to the sanctions, with some politicians even calling for an in-kind response and a ban on imports of American liquefied natural gas to Germany.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova lashed out at the US' crippling sanctions regarding the pipeline this Friday.

"A state with a $22-trillion national debt prohibits creditworthy countries to develop the real sector of their economies!" she wrote in a Facebook post, adding that the "American ideology of living on loan has not withstood global competition. They will soon demand we stop breathing immediately. And many will obey, after all."

Russia "has implemented, and will continue to implement, its economic projects regardless of any sanctions," but the whole affair will show whether European countries are ready to sacrifice their own energy interests for those of the US, the Foreign Ministry added later in a statement.