(Bloomberg) -- Nord Stream 2 AG, operator of the controversial gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea to Germany, said it can’t confirm reports that it has filed for bankruptcy amid a raft of international sanctions against Russian assets.

“We cannot confirm the media reports,” it said in a statement. Switzerland-based Nord Stream 2 AG “only 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.”

Amid international condemnation of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the U.S. slapped tougher penalties on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate leadership last week. While the European Union didn’t impose its own sanctions on the project, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz asked the Economy Ministry to withdraw its assessment that the pipeline didn’t pose a threat to security of supply.

The Nord Stream 2 link was completed in December, following delays arising from earlier sanctions on insurers and vessels involved in building the project. A positive assessment from German regulators was necessary for its certification and the start of gas flows.

Nord Stream 2’s operator also said Wednesday that it had taken down its website “due to serious and continuous attacks from outside.” Its “mobile and fixed network lines are also not reachable” for now, the statement showed.

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