Nord Stream 2 denies reports of bankruptcy, has only let employees go due to sanctions

MOSCOW. March 2 (Interfax) - Nord Stream 2 AG, a subsidiary of Gazprom , the operator of the Nord Stream 2 project, is denying reports that it has started bankruptcy proceedings.

"We do not confirm the media reports that Nord Stream 2 has filed for bankruptcy. The company only informed the local authorities that the company had to terminate contracts with employees following the imposition of U.S. sanctions on the company," the company's press service said in a statement.

The company employed 106 people, head of the economic department of the canton of Zug Sylvia Thalmann-Gut told Swiss TV channel SRF.

The Nord Stream 2 offshore pipeline with annual capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas runs from the Leningrad region of Russia to the Baltic Sea coast of Germany. Currently, both strands of the pipeline have been built, tested, filled with gas and are ready for operation.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz previously instructed the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs to withdraw its report on the pipeline, which had previously been submitted to the regulator, the Federal Network Agency. Thus, the certification process for the pipeline has been halted. The U.S. then put the Nord Stream 2 AG project company on its sanctions list.