Germany and Austria have slammed new and tougher US sanctions against Russia as a threat to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project and Europe’s energy security, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on June 16 saying she shared the “vehemence” expressed by her foreign ministry.

In a joint statement issued by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern on June 15, they said the new sanctions heralded a “new and very negative quality in European-American relations”.

“Europe’s energy supply is a matter for Europe, not the United States of America,” the statement said. “We cannot accept ... the threat of illegal extraterritorial sanctions against European companies that participate in the development of European energy supply.”

In a sign of growing political divisions between Berlin and Washington, Merkel said separately through her spokesman that she had “the same level of concern” expressed with “the same vehemence”. 

Her comments came after recent outspoken attacks by US President Donald Trump on Germany over defence, trade and international co-operation. 

On June 14, the US Senate overwhelmingly backed deeper sanctions against Russia, cementing into law measures imposed in 2014, despite a call by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for “flexibility” that would allow President Donald Trump to more easily adapt US policy towards Russia.

The new sanctions, which must still be approved by the US House of Representatives and signed into law by Trump, stipulate among other things possible restrictions against EU companies involved in energy projects with Russia, such as Nord Stream 2.

Although attitudes about the project among EU members are mixed, with fears that the pipeline that will be laid under the Baltic Sea to will lead to the EU’s heavier dependency on Russia, Germany and Austria said there are ulterior motives behind US opposition to the pipeline project.

“The draft US bill is surprisingly candid about what is actually at stake, namely selling American liquefied natural gas and ending the supply of Russian natural gas to the European market,” the joint statement said. “The bill aims to protect US jobs in the natural gas and petroleum industries. We decide who supplies us with energy, and how they do it, and we do so based on transparency and on free market principles.”

Political sanctions should not in any way be tied to economic interests, Germany and Austria emphasised.

Russia, however, ignored the energy security aspect to put its own spin on the German and Austrian comments: “The point is that many farmers and industrialists in Germany are sustaining direct losses from these sanctions,” TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on June 16. “That is why their discontent is, of course, quite understandable and explainable.”