The Kremlin said on Thursday that new U.S. sanctions targeting Nord Stream 2 could complicate the completion of the stalled Russian gas pipeline to Germany, but that Moscow and European nations had an interest in it being built.
Senior Trump administration officials said on Wednesday that Washington was urging European allies and private companies to halt work that could help build the pipeline and was preparing wider sanctions on the Russian project in coming weeks.
The Nord Stream 2 resumed laying pipes in the German zone of the Baltic Sea this month and is expected to start work in Danish waters from Jan 15.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov and Maria Kiselyova; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Katya Golubkova)