US blacklists 13 ships involved in Nord Stream 2
Washington has imposed sanctions, but action is seen as largely symbolic.
Joe Biden’s administration has imposed sanctions on 13 vessels involved with the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, despite exempting the project’s developer, Nord Stream AG, and its chief executive, Matthias Warnig.
The US Treasury department said US entities are prohibited from dealing with the Vladislav Strizhov and Yury Topchev. Separately US companies are banned from providing goods and services to offshore support vessels owned by Marine Rescue Service, a Russian state-run company.
These are the 2,990-bhp Kapitan Beklemishev (built 1985), 3,200-dwt Artemis Offshore (built 2018), 4,019-bhp Murman (built 2015), 7,070-bhp Bakhtemir (built 2019), 8,300-bhp Spasatel Karev (built 2012), 14,400-bhp Umka (built 1998), 16,800-bhp Narval (built 1997) and Sivuch (built 1998), 21,400-bhp Finval (built 2003), and 66-loa Baltiyskiy Issledovatel (built 2013).
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said: “We will continue to oppose the completion of this project, which would weaken European energy security. … Our opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is unwavering.”
