The Akademik Cherskiy saga started late last year, when the Russian pipelaying vessel was deemed one of the vessels that can add to completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipleine’s construction amid US sanctions against the project.
The Akademik Cherskiy, the Russian pipelaying ship deemed capable of completing the construction of Nord Stream 2, has arrived in the city of Kaliningrad for preoperational testing, according to the global maritime tracking website MarineTraffic.
It comes as Nord Stream 2 AG, the operator of the project, confirmed that the vessel would join Nord Stream 2-related pipelaying work in Danish waters after preoperational tests.
Akademik Cherskiy
The operator indicated that it had already sent out the necessary notification to the Danish Maritime Administration, and promised that “all work will be carried out in accordance with the permits received.”
The Akademik Cherskiy first grabbed global headlines in December 2020 as the ship was found to be one of the vessels that could complete Nord Stream 2 after Swiss-based contractor AllSeas dropped out amid threats of US sanctions. In the months that followed, the pipelayer changed direction and its final destination several times, zig-zagging its way into the Baltic.
Republicans Pressing Biden to Slap More Sanctions on Nord Stream 2
A group of US House Foreign Affairs Committee members has, meanwhile, urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken to impose new sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 project.
The letter was sent a few days after a 40-strong group of Republican senators called on President Joe Biden to slap additional sanctions on Nord Stream 2, claiming that the project violates US laws and warning that time was running out to stop the pipeline’s construction.
A handout by Nord Stream 2 claims to show the first pipes for the Nord Stream 2 project at a plant of OMK, which is one of the three pipe suppliers selected by Nord Stream 2 AG, in Vyksa, Russia, in this undated photo provided to Reuters on March 23, 2017
The United States has already slapped two rounds of sanctions on Nord Stream 2 with the so-called Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act rolled into the National Defence Authorisation Act of 2019, and more restrictions passed on 1 January 2021.
Nord Stream 2 Construction
Apart from the Russian energy giant Gazprom, five European companies are involved in the pipeline’s construction, including France’s ENGIE, Austria’s OMV, the UK-Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell, and Uniper and Wintershall, both from Germany.
When completed, Nord Stream 2 will transport up to 55 billion cubic metres of gas per year from Russia to Germany, thereby doubling the capacity of the existing Nord Stream network, and turning Germany into a gas hub.
The US – and some of its allies in Europe – have repeatedly criticised the project, claiming it will increase European dependence on Russian gas. Moscow denies the allegations, saying that Nord Stream 2 is purely economic and urging the US not to politicise it.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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