Germany: US cannot dictate energy policy

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - No state can dictate to Germany its energy policy, the country's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Tuesday.

Maas was addressing a joint news conference in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Upon a question on US sanctions on Nord Stream II, a network of gas pipelines from Russia to Germany, Maas said: "We must state that sanctions against allies indeed set a wrong precedent."

He went on to say it is Germany's sovereign decision "where we will buy energy resources from".

"No state can dictate energy policy to the European Union using threats," Maas said.

For his part, Lavrov slammed US actions saying Washington "sees no borders" and pursues "one tough, simple goal" to do anything it wants in any part of the world.

Nevertheless, the participants of the gas project are determined to complete it in the near future, he said.

The minister added that the US may have orchestrated the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Slovakia, considering the fact that only the US State Department welcomed the move.

On Monday, three Russian diplomats were declared persona non grata in Slovakia. They were given 72 hours to leave the country.