BRUSSELS, Dec. 6 - Russia’s Nord Stream II gas pipeline is a threat to European security, a US diplomat said amid calls for the European Commission to intervene, EU Observer reported Tuesday.

Adam Shub, the deputy US ambassador to the EU, in Brussels on Tuesday (December 6), mentioned the Russian-German project amid other instruments he said Russia was using to “create division” in Europe and to erode “shared transatlantic values.”

He said the armed conflict in Ukraine was “just the front line” in the “malign action,” which extended also to the EU and the Western Balkans.

“There are [Russian] attempts to influence the policy debate, support for political parties, we know that, in the European Parliament, for NGOs … attempts to acquire assets on the energy front, Nord Stream - these are threats to Europe and to transatlantic security,” he said.

Shub spoke at a conference organized by the Ceps think tank.

The Nord Stream II pipeline is a Russian project to double gas supplies to Germany, bypassing Ukraine and central European states.

Shub’s reference to Russian funding of political parties comes after revelations that France’s anti-EU National Front party, for one, received Russian loans, and amid Russia’s anti-EU propaganda campaign.

His comments framed the gas pipeline as part of Russia’s bigger strategy to weaken the EU and to restore its former sphere of influence.

Several EU states including the Baltic countries, Poland, and Slovakia have urged the EU commission to issue a legal assessment of whether Nord Stream II meets EU single market laws.

The anti-Nord Stream II bloc believes that if the commission flagged up problems, for instance, on Russia’s monopoly of the infrastructure, it might discourage private investors from taking part.

“If you’re putting your money somewhere, and you think it might not be kosher, you would think twice,” an EU source said.

Denmark and Sweden, at a meeting of EU energy ministers in Brussels on Monday, also called for the commission to intervene.

Such a legal assessment would be an unprecedented step, as the commission does not normally vet projects in advance.

It has stalled on its response for now, but two EU energy laws, which are currently under discussion, could give it new oversight powers on Nord Stream II and similar deals in future.

One bill would enable it to demand all information pertaining to major energy contracts between private firms, with the exception of price information.

The second one would task it with giving a priori assessments of whether major intergovernmental agreements, which govern projects such as Nord Stream II, meet EU law. (eu/ez)