"Deripaska scheme" in the balance

After the victory of the Democrats in the parliamentary elections in the United States, the new chairmen of the Committee of the House of Representatives demanded that the head of the Ministry of Finance postpone the lifting of US sanctions from Oleg Deripaska's companies in order to revise the terms of the agreement with him.

“We demand that you meet with interested members of the House of Representatives on conditions that will fully discuss all aspects of this agreement, the abolition of sanctions and the influence that these decisions will exert on the efforts of the United States to prevent the evil activity of Russia, directed against our country,” the letter said.

The deputies note that the notification of the lifting of sanctions was sent to the ward before a long break in the work during which the Shatdown of the federal departments began, which complicated the completion of this issue during the 30-day period provided for by the law “On Combating the opponents of America through sanctions”.

Oleg Deripaska at a meeting / VTB

The letter also notes that the agreement on the conditions for lifting sanctions from the company of Deripaska Rusal, En+ and Eurosibenergo stipulates that even after fulfilling the terms of the agreement, a significant share of these companies will remain. Deripaska will get rid of only some part of the shares, which, parliamentarians note, will probably go into the property of "associated with the Kremlin and under the sanctions of the VTB Bank."

Recall that in December 2018, the US Department of Foreign Investment (OFAC) sent the US Department of Finance to Congress a proposal to relieve sanctions from the control of the Rusal, En+ and Eurosibenergo controlled. This should be done after 30 days if the congress does not block the decision. The Ministry of Finance then warned that democrats could speak against the decision.

In the upper house - the Senate - a resolution is also being prepared, which should prevent the lifting of sanctions from Deripaska companies, although the Republican Party retained control over it. The leader of the Democrats in the Senate Chuck Schumer said that he took measures to maintain the “procedural opportunity” to introduce such a resolution.

It should be noted that at the same time it became known that the State Department plans to impose sanctions against European contracting companies participating in the construction of the North Stream-2 pipeline. About this, as RBC writes , reports the sources of the newspaper Handelsblatt. According to them, the Allseas company can fall under the restrictions, the headquarters of which is located in the Swiss city of Shatel-Sen-Deni, and the Italian company Saipem.

Nord Stream-2 / Nord-stream.com compressor station

It is noted that the Allseas, which has an operating base in the Netherlands, has more than 90% of the gas pipeline laying along the seabed. If Allseas gets into sanctions lists, this highly specialized company will be difficult to find a replacement to complete the project. At the same time, Saipem has already completed its part of the work, which makes it difficult to introduce sanctions against this company.

The newspaper emphasizes that the German government “with great concern” monitors how the United States “does not leave attempts to stop” the construction of the gas pipeline. In Berlin, the main critic of the project is the US Ambassador Richard Grennell, who, in an interview with Handelsblatt, said that the contracting companies of Northern Stream-2 "are always in danger, as sanctions are quite possible." He expressed confidence that the firms "themselves will leave the project."