Russian pipelaying vessel Fortuna has started working at the Nord Stream 2 construction site in Danish waters. It was reported by DW.
The work being done in the Danish exclusive economic zone is “performed in line with relevant permits” and precede the actual construction of the gas link, a spokeswoman for Nord Stream 2 AG said in an email. According to her, the Danish authorities allowed “preparatory works and tests before pipelay works start.”
The statement comes just days after the US State Department placed sanctions on the Fortuna and its assumed owner, the Russia-based KVT-Rus, aiming to halt construction of the pipeline from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea. The U.S. maintains that the gas link gives Moscow too much leverage over Europe’s gas supplies and threatens the energy security of the region.
Construction of the 1,230-kilometer (764-mile) gas pipeline was frozen after US sanctions in December 2019, when all but 160 kilometers of the link had been put in place. Last December, construction resumed in Germany’s exclusive economic zone, where the Fortuna built 2.6 kilometers of the pipeline.
More than 90% of the project, led by Russian gas giant Gazprom, has been already completed.
As we reported earlier, European Union lawmakers passed a resolution calling for the bloc to stop the completion of the Nord Stream 2 in response to the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
