That was sudden. Switzerland-based Nord Stream 2 AG just fired everybody. They released a panic-stricken statement in response to media reports. The suits are howling that they “cannot confirm the media reports” that the company has filed for bankruptcy. At least not yet. Vladimir Putin made life miserable for bankers everywhere.
Sanctions kill Nord Stream 2
The nation of Switzerland isn’t the hub of international high finance that it once was. Once the numbered accounts were phased out, everything went downhill from there.
The pipeline meant to supply Russian gas to Germany, Nord Stream 2 AG, just “informed the local authorities that the company had to terminate contracts with employees following the recent geopolitical developments leading to the imposition of U.S. sanctions on the company.”
They aren’t bankrupt, they just can’t operate the business. The reason their website is down, they add, is because they had to take it down “due to serious and continuous attacks from outside.”
They also explain, “unfortunately, our mobile and fixed network lines are also not reachable – at least for the time being.” Nord Stream is still trying to figure out which end is up. If the phones were working they don’t have any employees to answer them.
Nord Stream officials are pointing the finger at the phone company. “Swisscom was not able to provide a proper mobile phone number transfer, as promised and negotiated.”
The earlier and disputed report was that the pipeline operator “has terminated all contracts with employees after it was hit with U.S. sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
Owned by Russia’s Gazprom
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, media outlets explain, “represents an $11 billion investment from Russia and is designed to carry 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Germany every year.”
They’ll have to buy that fuel somewhere else now, maybe from America. The company may be registered in Switzerland but everybody knows it’s “owned by Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom.”
Instead of helping NATO bomb the invading Russian troops, or Moscow, or something, Joe Biden took the wussy way out and applied sanctions. The same sanctions which work so well against Iran and North Korea. Ouch, that hurts.
“The United States sanctioned Nord Stream 2 AG last week after Russia recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine prior to its invasion of the country, which has prompted a wave of economic sanctions by the West.”
They may not be filing for bankruptcy yet but they confirm they’re firing folks en masse. “Following the recent geopolitical developments leading to the imposition of U.S. sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the company had to terminate contracts with employees. We very much regret this development,” Nord Stream 2 AG told Reuters.
They may not be giving details but Switzerland’s economy minister Guy Parmelin told Swiss radio service RTS on Monday “that all 140 Nord Stream employees who worked for the company in the Swiss city of Zug had their contracts terminated.“
