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The Akademik Chersky pipelaying vessel, which is the ship expected to complete the final stretch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, now belongs to the Samara Thermal Energy Property Fund.
This was reported by Russian news agency RBC, referencing an extract from the ship’s registration in the Russian International Register of Ships.
According to RBC, the Akademik Chersky pipe-laying vessel is the only Russian vessel capable of completing the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline and is now owned by the Samara Thermal Energy Property Fund.
Earlier, the owner of the Academician Chersky was not reported anywhere, and the operating organization was the Gazprom subsidiary, Gazprom Fleet.
The vessel has been in the operational management of Gazprom Fleet since 2016. The pipe layer appeared on the Gazprom Fleet website at least until February 2020.
This can be easily seen on web.archive.org
This is significant because U.S. sanctions in December 2019 oblige the U.S. president to blacklist any company that provides vessels for the construction of Nord Stream 2.
The vessel itself can also be included in the SDN list – in this case, the Akademik Chersky vessel will probably be able to complete the pipeline, but subsequently lose access to any foreign services (retrofitting, repair, etc.).
At the same time, US senators Ted Cruz and Jinn Shahin are preparing to introduce a new bill to Congress to prevent the completion of the project.
Regardless what they introduce, it is unlikely to work.
Cruz said in May that new sanctions would affect any ship and any shipowner who tried to complete the construction of Nord Stream 2.
The Samara Thermal Energy Property Fund received the ship at an undisclosed date. his is the only such asset of the fund from Samara, while Gazprom Fleet owns seven vessels. Gazprom acquired the Akademik Chersky in 2015.
According to a list of affiliates of Gazprom, it follows that as of March 31st, 2020, the Samara Thermal Energy Property Fund was part of the Gazprom Group.
The founders of the company were Gazprom Teploenergo (51%) and Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Samara (49%).
Both enterprises are part of the Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Group, the energy distribution structure of Gazprom.
The Samara Thermal Energy Property Fund is a non-public company, and is not obliged to disclose its participants, so it can theoretically change its ownership.
As of April 1st, the fund was on the list of affiliates of the Gazprom group (not Gazprom itself). But as of today, the information has not yet been disclosed, official spokesman for Gazprom Sergey Kupriyanov said, recommending that the gas monopoly’s information disclosure schedule be monitored.
Gazprom believes that “the sanction risks associated with the operation of the vessel are leveled,” a source in Gazprom said, without further explanation.
Gazprom Mezhregiongaz and Gazprom Fleet are already included in the less stringent, sectoral sanction list of the US Treasury: they are prohibited from supplying American equipment and technologies for the exploration and production of oil (not gas) on the Russian Arctic shelf, in deep sea areas and in slates.
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it is possible to complete the project by the end of 2020, or in the early parts of 2021.
Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the ship Akademik Chersky could do this. In early May, it approached the German port of Mukran, which is the logistics center of the Nord Stream-2 project. This pipelayer, the only one in Russia, is equipped with a dynamic positioning system, which is a prerequisite for the Danish regulators, in whose waters the last section should be built.
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Russia needs to build more AND Iarger ships of this type.
Russia also needs to ensure that the ship has 24/7 air , surface and underwater security for the pipelayer vessel. Plus the examination of ALL supplies and personnel transiting to the ship, with a detachment of special forces on board at all times and surveillance of ALL communications on board.
The project is 93% complete, US are deluded if they believe sanctions will stop it at this late stage.
The US IS deluded, period. lol
the problem is that the disjointed states of ununified morons or the usa in the daily parlance is afraid of losing its hold on germany, or in other words, that germany is working towards a more independent stance vis a vis the disjointed washington dc, and that is entirely unacceptable and really invokes the domino effect in europe, the very same effect that made the idiots spend billions of dollars in vietnam and caused the death of some 5 million vietnamese, laotians and others. and they can’t stop it. what a sad and pathetic bunch of yankeetwats in washington dc – regime change, sanctions and outright assassinations to make the hand fit the glove. and it won’t work.
Sadly our ruling class here in Germany is doing the opposite: They have been becoming more subservient to US demands over the last decades. In the 1960s, Germany led the way for reducing cold war tensions, and had made this a priority. Those efforts played a major part later on when the “iron curtain” became more and more open, and Europe build a security and diplomatic net of relations between east and west. A majority of citizens and well as their representatives rejected US cold war escalation, increased European cooperation to reduce reliance on the US. Now even the parties that championed that causes now are in line with the new US cold war. North Stream II is just an exception, because our industry would die a brutal death without cheap Russian gas. And for the interests of big business, they are able to stand up to the US. For the normal citizen rejecting US dominance and cold war escalation? Not anymore.
the best and cheapest gas is by pipe from russia and thus that’s the way it must be. to buy liquefied gas from the disjointed states if A will just be an additional burden on the german people and others in europe and must be avoided. nothing much about that and germany must maintain at least a semblance of independence from the more than delusional yankeetwats and buy the russian gas that is far far far better than anything the stupid cunts from over there can offer.
Yeah, and the US wont likely be able to change that. Russian gas has been flowing freely even in the worst times of cold war, so the scaring tactics by the US wont influence the decision of most of our politicians. Still there are now more than a few federal politicians who are demanding to succumb to even this US demand. The US funded and steered think tanks which have been created after WWII in our country are building up a whole new generation of politicians “educated” by them. Loyal to “Trans-Atlanticism” (meaning being US influence agents) more than to their own oath the made to me my compatriots.
LOL Styx, you said you blocked me? When i called you a paranoid schizophrenic you seemed to have taken the initiative to prove it even further! Not only you’re claiming to be able to appoint another commentor here as head of the Mi6, claiming to be a mathematician (working in intelligence), and also being a mind reader who can know if another anonymous commentor has been a NSA employee for 6 years. I did not believe it, but you are becoming even crazier. At least you now have accepted you are unable to even counter a single argument i made, and now only down vote like a creep. I know “take your meds” is one of those common jokes on the internet, but damn, you really do need to take your meds. With them, even a schizophrenic like you can live virtually symptom free. Down voting on the other hand wont help..
Dream well.
BTW: May i ask why you wrote EXACTLY what i wrote in your answer, and still down vote it? What kind of message is that?
Good news. A Moskva class guided missile cruiser and an Akula SSN should escort it, just in case isis navy goes full retard…
To add: Good to see the timeline now looks much better. Not the 2022 / 2023 that was stated months ago..
The Akademik Chersky is currently in the port of Mukran along with the Fortuna getting pipe loaded into their hulls. The Stril Explorer has been surveying the waters near the island of Bornholm for the past month. You can easily follow its tracking to correspond with the remaining pipeline route. The pipeline will be completed, it’s inevitable.
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