German business is concerned about the possible consequences of the new sanctions against Russia, which were previously approved by US President Donald Trump.
"Important projects to ensure reliable supplies can be frozen if German companies are not allowed to cooperate in Russian projects to expand the network of gas pipelines," says Volker Treier, head of the foreign trade department of the Federal Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK). Through the obstacles in the work of the Russian extractive industry, the entire German economy can also slow down, warned Traer in an interview with the news agency dpa, released on Saturday, August 5.
For the first time since 2013 the growth of German exports to the Russian Federation is expected
The DIHK association expects an increase in German exports to Russia for the first time in four years. According to the forecasts of the organization, by the results of the current year this indicator can grow by no less than five percent. For the period from 2013 to 2016, the exports of Germany to Russia fell by 40 percent.
US President Donald Trump signed on August 2 a bill approved by the House of Representatives and the US Senate on strengthening sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea. Signing the law, the US president partially criticized his content. Trump among other things said that he approved severe penalties for aggressive and destabilizing actions of Iran, North Korea and Russia, but "the text of the law contains significant shortcomings," some passages, according to the Republican, "are contrary to the constitution."
Analysts estimate that the project of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, the pipeline infrastructure of Russia as a whole and, together with it, the export of oil and gas, may be one of the first to suffer from new restrictive measures. It will also tighten restrictions on the transfer of Russian companies with a share of the state from 33 percent of US technologies for exploration and production of oil at great depths, the Arctic shelf and shale deposits. Strengthening the sanctions regime will affect the financial sector.
New sanctions were not agreed with European countries. In the EU, in turn, repeatedly spoke about new steps of the US with harsh criticism. American sanctions can affect firms from other countries involved in the repair, modernization and expansion of Russian gas pipelines.
