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Legal Officers Visit Nord Stream AG Office, Execute No Property Seizure - Source

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Legal officers visited the office of Nord Stream AG, the operator of a Russian gas pipeline of the same name, in Switzerland but they did not execute any property seizure orders, a source with knowledge of the situation told Sputnik on Wednesday.
Sputnik

"Legal officers have visited the office, but there was no [property] seizure," the source said.

Nord Stream AG is the operator of an existing gas pipeline of the same name, while Nord Stream 2 AG is the operator of the Nord Stream 2 project, which envisages the construction of two gas pipelines that will run from the Russian coast through the Baltic Sea to a hub in Germany.

READ MORE: Remaining Permits for Nord Stream 2 May Be Issued in Summer — Gas Concern's Head

In March, Chief Commercial Officer of Ukrainian oil giant Naftogaz Yuriy Vitrenko said that his company did not exclude the possibility of appealing to a Swiss court to demand the seizure of Nord Stream AG and Nord Stream 2 AG shares to recover Gazprom's debt related to the decision of the Stockholm Arbitration Court.

Remaining Permits for Nord Stream 2 May Be Issued in Summer - Gas Concern's Head
In February 2018, the Stockholm arbitration court partially satisfied Naftogaz claims over what it said was the failure of the Russian energy giant to supply agreed volumes of gas for transit, ordering Gazprom to pay $4.63 billion to the Ukrainian company. However, taking into account the amount of money previously awarded to Gazprom in relation with the gas supply contract, the mutual offset of liabilities resulted in Gazprom's obligation to pay $2.5 billion.

Earlier in March, Gazprom said it was against Ukraine resolving its economic problems at its expense and launched the procedure to terminate contracts with Naftogaz.

On March 21, Gazprom filed a motion with the Svea Court of Appeal in Sweden requesting that the Stockholm arbitration ruling to be partially annulled.

The Nord Stream 2 project has been welcomed by some countries in Europe, such as Germany and Austria, and opposed by others, including Eastern European states, such as Ukraine, which currently transfers Russian gas to Europe and may suffer transit revenue drops if Nord Stream 2 becomes operational.

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