German business group objects to threat of U.S. sanctions due to links to Gazprom

The German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations Chairman Wolfgang Büchele called U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Russia would be able to control German gas markets following the pipeline’s completion “factually wrong and politically absurd”, writes news agency Reuters. He said that Trump’s remarks and sanctions against Russia that also target foreign companies there were “an assault on business relations between German and European countries and Russia”. Büchele made his remarks after the U.S. State Department repeated a warning that companies involved in the controversial Nord Stream 2 project could face American sanctions.

Read the article in English here.

For background, read the news digest item Trump lashes out at Nord Stream 2, says Germany is “totally controlled” by Russia and the factsheet Germany’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.