US warns of imposition of sanctions on Russian pipe-laying barge Fortuna
The Russian pipe-laying barge Fortuna and its owner will be subject to US sanctions on Nord Stream 2. This was reported by the German edition Handelsblatt, citing sources.
According to the newspaper, Washington has already warned Germany and other European partners of its intention to impose sanctions against the Russian pipelayer and its owner. The restrictive measures are due to take effect on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.
- stated at the US Embassy in Germany.
It is drawn attention that it remains unclear how the sanctions against "Fortune" will work, since the standard set of prohibition of transactions and blocking of accounts will most likely not work due to the repeated change of the owner of the vessel. The option of a new change of owner immediately after the introduction of sanctions is not excluded.
Let us remind you that on December 18, 2020 "Fortuna" once again changed its owner. According to the entry in the Russian International Register of Vessels (RMRS), the vessel was transferred from one Russian micro-enterprise to another. The new owner of the vessel is now KBT-Rus LLC with one employee in the state, which bought the barge from Universal Transport Group LLC, which, in turn, purchased the vessel from the Hong Kong Strategic Mileage in early October 2020.
In Germany, they said they "regret" the imposition of sanctions against the ship "Fortune" and "Nord Stream-2".
It should be noted that the Fortuna pipe-laying barge is the main vessel for completing the remaining section of the gas pipeline, which received all the necessary documents and permits to continue work both in German waters and in the Danish section.
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