Primary sources:
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Germany-Looks-To-Protect-Russia-Led-Nord-Stream-2-From-US-Sanctions.html
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Nord-Stream-2-Construction-Continues-Despite-Delays.html
"Work on the $11 billion pipeline, which will double Russian natural-gas deliveries to Germany, has been suspended since late 2019 after the United States approved asset freezes and visa restrictions on companies involved in the project.
Work has resumed in Baltic Sea waters off the German coast on the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural-gas pipeline, project managers said in a statement on December 11. The statement said the pipe-laying vessel Fortuna is laying a 2.6-kilometer section of the pipe “in the German Exclusive Economic Zone.”
The same day, Germany’s Authority of Waterways and Shipping Management warned mariners to avoid the construction area for the rest of the month, saying that “anchoring or fishing is not permitted in the area of the planned pipeline.”
Work on the $11 billion pipeline, which will double Russian natural-gas deliveries to Germany, has been suspended since late 2019 after the United States approved asset freezes and visa restrictions on companies involved in the project.
... The U.S. Embassy in Berlin on December 5 called on the German government to halt construction of the pipeline.
... Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom has a majority stake in the project, while Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper groups, joint Dutch-British oil major Shell, France’s Engie, and Austria’s OMV are also participating.
... The pipeline still has 16 kilometers left to be built in German waters and another 60 kilometers in the Danish section.
Russia, which initially expected to complete the pipeline in early 2020, has accused the United States of using energy sanctions as a "weapon" to open new markets for its oil and gas industry.
... The first phase of the project, Nord Stream 1, began operation in 2011.
The German state where the controversial Russia-led natural gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 is planned to land has proposed the creation of a state-protected foundation that would hold the assets of Nord Stream in a bid to protect the project from U.S. sanctions, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing a proposal of the provincial government of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania.
The proposal is to hold the Nord Stream 2 assets inside a foundation whose official purpose will be to protect the environment, according to the document Bloomberg has seen.
... In July, the United States warned the companies that were helping to complete Nord Stream 2 that they should ‘get out now’ or face the consequences, as the Trump Administration stepped up efforts to stop the construction of the controversial Russia-led pipeline in Europe.
... It’s unlikely that German lawmakers and politicians will decide on the regional proposal to shield Nord Stream 2 from U.S. sanctions before the end of this year, Claudia Mueller, a lawmaker in federal parliament representing Mecklenburg-West Pomerania from the opposition Greens told Bloomberg.
... After the U.S. sanctions were passed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hoped the pipeline would be completed by early 2021."