Biden readying new sanctions on Russia over Nord Stream 2 pipeline

The Biden administration is preparing additional sanctions on the controversial Russia-Germany gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, according to officials familiar with the internal deliberations, as lawmakers demand the pipeline project be derailed before it’s too late. The administration is required by law to submit a report to Congress every 90 days naming entities involved in the pipeline’s construction that are eligible for sanctions. The process of identifying those new targets is underway now, the officials said, and could be completed before the next report is due in May. A senior administration official declined to comment on the specifics of the sanctions package that is now moving through the interagency process. But the official said “we are continuing to look at entities that may be involved in sanctionable activities and will take necessary follow-on steps from there.” State Department spokesperson Ned Price echoed that, telling POLITICO that “we are always looking at pipeline activity that would be sanctionable, so if we see activity that meets that threshold we are prepared to follow the law.”Lawmakers from both parties have noted that the pipeline would place Russian infrastructure inside NATO territory and thereby threaten its member states, and make some European countries more dependent on Russian energy. It would also deprive Ukraine of billions of dollars in revenue, allowing Russia to circumvent the country when transferring gas to Europe. But the diplomatic situation is delicate, officials said. The administration wants to impede the project — Biden has called it “a bad deal for Europe” — but it also wants to strengthen the U. S. relationship with Germany, which has been lobbying for the pipeline’s construction to continue unabated.“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” said a second senior administration official. There’s also bipartisan political pressure on the Biden administration to act. Secretary of State Antony Blinken briefed members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, but provided little clarity on what the administration plans to do, prompting immediate backlash. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who co-authored a provision in the annual defense bill requiring sanctions on entities supporting construction of the pipeline, has placed holds on several Biden nominees to pressure the president to act.“If the Biden administration dithers, if they defy the law, they will have turned a major foreign policy victory for America into a major foreign policy loss and a gift of billions of dollars in perpetuity to Vladimir Putin,” said Cruz, who is delaying Senate confirmation of Biden’s nominees for CIA director and deputy secretary of state, among others.“I told Secretary Blinken, I would be thrilled to lift the holds on the State Department nominees today if they would only follow the law and issue an interim report identifying all of the companies subject to mandatory sanctions,” Cruz added.


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Article Link: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/12/biden-sanctions-nords-stream-pipeline-475552


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