Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Firm Gets 6-Month Stay of Bankruptcy

A Swiss court has granted a six-month “stay of bankruptcy” to the operating company for the never-opened Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was built to bring Russian gas to Germany but put on ice shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, ABC News reported. The company's stay was extended from Jan. 10 through July 10 by a regional court in the Swiss canton (state) of Zug, according to a notice published Wednesday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce. Nord Stream 2 AG, a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, is based in Zug. Nord Stream 2's court-appointed administrator, Transliq AG, sought the extension. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government halted the certification process for the pipeline on Feb. 22, after Russia recognized the independence of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine two days later, and U.S. President Joe Biden then directed his administration to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 operating company. The pipeline project had long drawn resistance from Ukraine and eastern European countries, as well as bipartisan opposition in the U.S. At the beginning of March, the operating company said it had dismissed all its employees in Zug, who numbered up to 110, according to local officials. Read more.

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