Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that the Nord Stream 2 and Turk Stream gas pipeline projects would be launched despite U.S. sanctions, adding that Russia planned to respond to the new measures, the Interfax news agency reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill on Friday that included legislation imposing sanctions on firms laying pipe for Nord Stream 2, which seeks to double gas capacity along the northern Nord Stream pipeline route to Germany.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that U.S. President Donald Trump had sent a short letter about the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Interfax news agency reported.
"U.S. President Donald Trump sent a short letter in which he said that they are ready to continue looking for ways to overcome the problems in our relations," Interfax cited the minister as saying on a TV talk show.
The letter was in response to Putin's offer to introduce a moratorium on the development of missiles banned by the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, Interfax cited Lavrov as saying.
The U.S. formally left the INF treaty with Russia in August after determining that Moscow was violating the treaty and had already deployed one banned type of missile, an accusation the Kremlin denies.
