Russia imposes blocking sanctions on Yamal-Europe gas pipeline

MOSCOW. May 11 (Interfax) - Russia has imposed blocking sanctions on the Polish company EuRoPol Gaz S.A., which owns the Polish section of the Yamal-Europe natural gas pipeline, under a Russian government resolution of May 11 published on the official web portal of legal information.

Any transaction with these entities is banned. Separately, the document bans entering Russian ports, payments and securities transactions.

The Russian Finance Ministry is given power to grant temporary permission for certain operations with the sanctioned entities.

The list of legal entities was adopted by the Russian government to comply with the presidential decree of May 3, 2022, entitled "On the imposition of special economic measures in response to the unfriendly actions by certain foreign states and international organizations."

In late April, Poland imposed sanctions on Gazprom . The restrictions imply freezes of the rights to stocks and other securities of EuRoPol Gaz and dividend payments.

The over 2,000-kilometer Yamal-Europe pipeline from Torzhok to Frankfurt (Oder) reached the rated annual capacity of 33 billion cubic meters in 2006. The Polish section spans 683 kilometers of line pipe and five compressor stations and is owned by the EuRoPol Gaz joint venture and run by a separate Polish Gas Transmission System operator, Gaz System.

In his comments on the situation in the JV last December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "We have 45% there owned by Gazprom. But the Polish side moved us aside from managing this system."

Besides infringement on Gazprom's rights in the EuRoPol Gaz JV, the Polish state company PGNiG has become one of the chief opponents of the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.