German and Austrian authorities issued a joint claim condemning the United States Senate’s actions related to Russia, RIA Novosti informs.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel criticized a new package of sanctions related to Russian economics and its gas sector.
Top public officials of Germany and Austria have mutually stated that the European Union and USA were both responsible for the Russian politics in Crimea and in the South-Eastern Ukraine. However, the threat from sanctions for European companies involved in combined projects with Russian enterprises is unacceptable.
Kern and Gabriel expressed assuredness that sanction tools should be applied very selectively and carefully, they should not concern economic interests directly. Politicians have claimed that in case a new law draft is accepted in US, European companies intending to take part in The Northern Flow – 2 large-scale project will be seriously fined at the US market, which will have negative impact on relationships between Europe and America.
Some politicians and members of expert community have remarked that amendments to the US legislation have a slightly different goal, which is to displace Russian exporters of natural gas from the European markets and impose their own supply of natural gas to them.
Russkiy Mir
