US State Department officials have warned Moscow that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will not proceed if Russia invades Ukraine, a position backed up by Germany today.

Washington fears the project — which will link a vast network of offshore natural gas pipelines between Russian and Germany — will increase European dependence on Russian energy and reduce markets for its own shale gas exports.

“I want to be very clear: if Russia invades Ukraine one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price told National Public Radio on Wednesday evening. 

“I’m not going to get into the specifics. We will work with Germany to ensure it does not move forward,” he said.

Mr Price said that the US was in talks to help Germany cope with the loss of the critical gas pipeline, with Berlin falling into line today.

Germany’s ambassador to Washington Emily Haber reiterated a previous warning issued to Moscow that a new escalation of tensions in Ukraine would threaten the future of the pipeline.

“The US and Germany jointly declared last summer: if Russia uses energy as a weapon or if there is another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, Russia will have to pay a high price,” she said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also made this clear, saying “nothing will be off the table, including Nord Stream 2,” Ms Haber said.

Russia again denied any intention of moving against Ukraine today, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexei Zaitsev saying “even the thought of war between our peoples is unacceptable.”

Germany halted the approval process for the the pipeline last November following political pressure from the US and its allies.

The project — owned by Russian controlled gas giant Gazprom — is opposed by Washington and Kiev as energy prices continue to soar across Europe amid tight supplies of natural gas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Nord Stream 2, which bypasses Ukraine and Poland, could increase supplies and lower prices once German regulators allow it to operate.

Some have suggested that the ambitious pipeline is one of the main motivations for the US drive to war and its increasingly aggressive stance toward Russia.

Hawkish US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted on Wednesday that the US would continue to supply Ukraine with weapons and that Nato would not rule out any new country joining, a rejection of Russian proposals to defuse tensions.