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Saturday, 05 December 2020 (YJC)_ The US embassy in Berlin US embassy urges German government to halt Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The US embassy in Berlin has called on the German government to halt construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, which will link Russia to Germany.
"Now is the time for Germany and the EU to call for a moratorium for the pipeline's construction," Robin Quinville, chargee d'affaires at the US embassy in Berlin, told the newspaper Handelsblatt on Saturday.
This would send a clear signal that Europe "no longer accepts Russia's sustained malevolent behaviour," she said.
The official added that the pipeline was not just an economic project but a political tool for the Kremlin to circumvent Ukraine and split up Europe.
Construction at the pipeline in the Baltic Sea was halted at the end of last year due to the US threatening sanctions, though Russia vowed to continue the constructions itself.
Building works for a 2.6-kilometre stretch of the pipeline could resume this weekend, after German authorities authorized construction until the end of the year.
Construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is nearly complete. It would double Russian deliveries of natural gas via a Baltic Sea route to Germany, Europe's largest economy.
Opponents of the pipeline, including the US, Poland and Ukraine, say the pipeline will give Russia an economic stranglehold over Germany, while the German government says it will create a direct and secure energy supply.
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