May 29 (Reuters) - Two U.S. senators are expected to
introduce next week sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas
pipeline that Russia is trying to finish, but which Washington
has opposed since the Obama era, a source familiar with the
matter said on Friday.
The sanctions, which would have to pass Congress and be
signed by President Donald Trump, are expected to be introduced
as soon as Monday by Senators Ted Cruz, a Republican, and Jeanne
Shaheen, a Democrat.
The senators' offices did not respond to requests for
comment. This week, however, both senators indicated they were
weighing sanctions on Nord Stream 2, led by state gas company
Gazprom, as Russia moves closer to completing the
project.
Late last year sanctions sponsored by Cruz and Shaheen
halted work by Swiss-Dutch company Allseas on the pipeline that
aims to double the capacity of an existing line sending Russian
gas to Germany.
Now a Russian pipe-laying vessel aims to finish the
remaining 100 miles (160 km) of the project, which would bypass
Ukraine by sending gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The
pipeline could be launched by the end of 2020 or early next
year, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
Washington has opposed the project, which would tighten
Putin’s economic and political grip over Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after the Reuters story
about senators weighing new sanctions that Moscow considers such
measures unfair competition and contradictory to international
law.
Cruz told the Atlantic Council think tank this month that
new sanctions would apply to any ship or any owner who attempts
to finish the project. Ship officers would lose their ability to
come to the United States and all their assets would be blocked,
he said.
Nord Stream 2 did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in London and Timothy Gardner
in Washington; Editing by David Gregorio)