German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christopher Burger has said that Berlin is in a "regular and constructive" dialogue with the US on the implementation of an agreement on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and still opposes sanctions against allies.
"In this regard, I can say that the heads of departments of the foreign and energy ministries were recently in Washington and held constructive negotiations with high-ranking representatives of the US administration and Congress", Burger told reporters on Monday.
"We are in close contact with the US administration on the implementation of the joint statement [on energy security and Nord Stream 2] and we are in regular and constructive contact at various levels", he added.
The spokesman stressed that Berlin "fundamentally rejects the use of sanctions against allies, so here [in Berlin's appeal to the United States] there should be nothing surprising".
The statement comes as the Russian president's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Kremlin believes it is very important that the US refrain from pressuring anyone during the certification of the Nord Stream 2 project.
"It is very important, of course, that the United States of America does not put pressure on anyone in connection with the ongoing certification of this project", Peskov told reporters on Monday.
Earlier, the news website Axios cited newly obtained documents as saying that the German government had called upon US congressmen not to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, insisting that doing so will "damage transatlantic unity".
Nord Stream 2 Project
A joint venture by Russia's Gazprom and four Western European energy companies, Nord Stream 2 is a 1,230-km twin gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to complement the existing Nord Stream 1 network.
The already completed network is capable of transporting up to 1.9 trillion cubic feet (55 billion cubic metres) of gas per year from Russia to Europe, thus doubling Nord Stream's capacity.
Washington previously imposed a number of sanctions on the project, arguing that once Nord Stream 2 is operational, Europe will become even more dependent on Russia's energy resources, something that will allegedly help Moscow gain political leverage.
Moscow has repeatedly underlined that the project is purely economic, and the way in which the White House opposes Nord Stream 2 is an example of unfair competition.