OREANDA-NEWS  The German Foreign Ministry recommended representatives of large companies not to respond to Grenell's letters in which he warned in early January about possible sanctions in case of participation in the "Nord Stream-2" project. According to the newspaper Handelsblatt, BASF and Unipec requested the Foreign Ministry regarding the response to the appeals of the American Ambassador. There letters were regarded as a threat.

At the same time, the interlocutors of the publication in the German Foreign Ministry noted that Grenell's letters are not in fact His first provocation. In Berlin, and earlier expressed dissatisfaction with the attempts of the American Ambassador to set up society against a nuclear agreement with Iran and interfere in German foreign policy. It is indicated that the Minister of Foreign Affairs Haiko Maas and Secretary of State Andreas Michaelis already communicated with Grenell, who asked the Ambassador to change his behavior.

That Grenell sent letters to the companies that are associated with the construction of "Nord Stream-2", January 13, the newspaper Bild. The tabloid did not name the addressees of the American Ambassador, suggesting that Grenell coordinated his messages with various departments in Washington.

"Nord Stream-2" envisages the construction of two gas pipeline lines with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The United States is also against this project. They believe that its implementation can provide Russia with "another tool for political pressure." Last summer, the President of the United States Donald trump even declared the inadmissibility of the flow of "pipeline dollars" to Russia. In the Kremlin, such statements were considered an attempt to force Europeans to buy more expensive liquefied gas from the United States.

Earlier was reported, that US State Department plans to impose sanctions against European contractors involved in the construction of the Nord stream-2 pipeline. According to this information, under the restrictions can get the company Allseas, whose headquarters is located in the Swiss city of Chatel-Saint-Denis, and the Italian company Saipem.