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Berlin: Germany today accused Washington of hurting European power companies through its new sanctions against Russia that target the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe.

The new measures, approved by the US Senate on Thursday,include a threat to penalise companies that provide "goods,services, technology, information or support" for the construction of Russian energy export pipelines.

Berlin noted that this would directly impact European companies involved in the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline which would pump Russian gas under the Baltic Sea directly to Germany.

"It is strange that in the sanctioning of Russia's behaviour, with regards to the US elections for instance, the European economy should become a target of American sanctions," said Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert.

"That must not happen."

He added that Merkel shared the concerns raised by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern, who charged in a joint statement Thursday that the measure brings a "completely new and entirely negative quality to European-US relations".

They also accused Washington of using the sanctions to squeeze Russian gas supplies out of Europe in favour of USenergy exports.

Separately, France's foreign ministry called on Washington to respect the need for coordination with itsEuropean allies before deciding new sanctions.

"For several years, we have stressed the difficultiesthat extra-territorial legislations could generate," said aspokesman at the French foreign ministry, referring tomeasures that could have a spillover effect to countriesbesides the one directly sanctioned.

"On issues linked to security and European industrialpolicies, we hope that the United States respect necessarycoordination, including within the framework of the G7."

Russian energy giant Gazprom is building Nord Stream 2 incooperation with Anglo-Dutch Shell, Germany's Uniper andWintershall, Austria's OMV and France's Engie.

The project bypassing conflict-torn Ukraine and alsoPoland would double the flow of the Nord Stream pipelinecurrently linking Germany and Russia.

But it has sparked criticism within the EU, with members including Italy and Poland accusing Germany of selfishly seeking a reliable energy supply route from President VladimirPutin's Russia while pressuring other countries to backsanctions against Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine.

Former US vice president Joe Biden has also called theplanned pipeline a "fundamentally bad deal for Europe" as itlocks in greater reliance on Russia.

But Germany's Gabriel and Austria's Kern saidWashington's intention was purely economic.

"The aim is to secure jobs in gas and oil industries inthe US," said Gabriel and Kern.

"Political sanctions should not be mixed up with economicinterests," they warned, stressing that "Europe's energysupply is Europe's business and not that of the UnitedStates".

"We decide who delivers energy to us and how, according to rules of openness and economic competitiveness," said Gabriel and Kern.

"We cannot accept the threat of extra-territorialsanctions against European companies that participate in the expansion of European energy supplies", they said, adding that this would "violate international law".

Gazprom's vice president Alexander Medvedev also charged that the US had a vested interest in hurting the project.

"With regards to the introduction of sanctions, they don't hide the fact that it's an anti-competition tool tofavour US gas deliveries in Europe," he said according to Russian news agencies.

The US bill as originally introduced was exclusively about slapping new sanctions on Iran. But lawmakers attached a bipartisan amendment on Russia to it early this week.

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Germany claims US harming European Union firms with Russia sanctions - ETEnergyworld.com