RTWed, 25 Dec 2019 19:48 UTC

© nord-stream2.com / Axel Schmidt
The United States could ratchet up pressure on Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak. However, energy security is Europe's top priority regardless of US sanctions, he noted.
"We are sure that we will solve this problem and reach compromise in cooperation with European countries, with the European Union," Kozak told Rossiya 24 Channel.
"The pressure is likely to grow, but the capacities of this pressure are not unlimited, taking into consideration the position of the key EU member states that are interested in having the necessary level of energy security," he said.
According to Kozak, Russian gas will be 30 percent cheaper for Europe than American LNG (liquefied natural gas).Washington introduced sanctions against Nord Stream 2 this month, claiming that the Russia-led project posesses a danger to European security.
The move came despite Berlin's calls not to interfere in Germany's "domestic affairs." The $11-billion pipeline, which extends from Russia to Germany across the bottom of the Baltic Sea, is 93.5 percent complete.
A Swiss-Dutch company, Allseas, that has been laying the pipeline has withdrawn from the project this week, under pressure of US sanctions.
Comment: Russia warns that sanctions will
backfire on the U.S. business community:
[German business newsletter publisher Dr Eike] Hamer told RT that the costs of completing the pipeline will definitely be much higher after the Swiss-Dutch company Allseas announced it is quitting the project.
According to the economist, the Russian energy major Gazprom, which is leading the Nord Stream 2 project, could "surely" sue European companies for winding up operations "unless it was excluded in the contracts."
"The sanctions and promises for additional contracts by the Russians could be much more favorable and be a better deal for Allseas than the US sanctions, which are against international law," he said.
"Afterwards, all costs can be saved from sending less oil and gas via the US-puppets Poland and Ukraine, or increase local taxes on US oil firms in Russia or Anglo-American shareholders of Russian companies," Hamer said, noting "In the end, benefits will overwhelm the costs in the project by far."
He pointed out that "This is an economic war the US has started already." According to the publisher, the delay in the construction of the Russian gas pipeline "will cause inconvenience but not a severe problem."
"The problem arises for the Anglo-American forces that made up the sanctions because they will be regarded as a difficult and dangerous business partner," he said. "Who trusts an Anglo-American firm in future when you never know if you are sanctioned, threatened of not completing your work? In that sense the US has much more to lose than the rest of the world."
Comment: Russia warns that sanctions will backfire on the U.S. business community: