Nord Stream 2 officials deny bankruptcy filing, confirm employee layoffs

Offshore staff

SWITZERLAND – The Swiss-based company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline denied on Wednesday that it filed for bankruptcy but confirmed it terminated employee contracts.

It had previously been reported by several online sources that the company had filed for bankruptcy, and fired all 106 of its employees. Nord Stream 2 was one of the first targets of the wave of Western sanctions triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A Swiss official has confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that all of the operator’s 106 employees had been let go, adding that “continued employment is no longer possible due to the payment difficulties.”

A lone statement on the Nord Stream 2 website says: “We cannot 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 recent geopolitical developments leading to the imposition of US sanctions on the company. We can confirm that we have taken down this website due to serious and continuous attacks from outside.”

03/03/2022