MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia must keep to schedule on implementing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline link to Europe, a senior Russian senator told state news agency RIA on Saturday, after pipe-laying was suspended due to U.S. sanctions.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Russia’s upper house, was speaking after Swiss-Dutch firm Allseas said it had suspended work on pipe-laying to avoid U.S. sanctions contained in legislation signed by President Donald Trump on Friday.