The expected move shows that the Biden administration is not willing to compromise its relationship with Germany over the controversial pipeline, the axios.com website reported, citing “two sources briefed on the decision."
The decision also "underscores the difficulties President Biden faces in matching actions to rhetoric on a tougher approach to Russia," according to axios.com.
The website also cited sources it did not name as saying that the US State Department was planning to call for sanctions against a handful of Russian ships involved in the nearly completed energy project, which is opposed by a host of countries including Poland.
In a mandatory report to Congress listing entities involved in the project that deserve sanctions, the State Department will acknowledge that Nord Stream 2 AG, the company overseeing the construction of the pipeline, and CEO Matthias Warnig, a “Putin crony and former East German intelligence officer,” are engaged in sanctionable activities, axios.com reported.
But the State Department will waive the applications of those sanctions, citing US national interests, according to the website.
Axios.com said the planned move appeared to be at odds with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's statement during his confirmation hearing that he was "determined to do whatever we can to prevent that completion" of Nord Stream 2.
The planned move creates "a bizarre situation in which the Biden administration will be sanctioning ships involved in the building of Nord Stream 2 but refusing to sanction the actual company in charge of the project," axios.com also said.
It cited “sources close to the situation” as saying that top Biden officials have determined that the only way to potentially stop the project—which is 95-percent complete—is to sanction the German end users of the gas.
Axios also quoted a US State Department spokesperson as saying that the Biden administration had made clear that companies participating in Nord Stream 2 could face sanctions and would "continue to underscore U.S. strong, bipartisan opposition to this Russian malign influence project."
"The Biden administration has been clear that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a Russian geopolitical project that threatens European energy security and that of Ukraine and eastern flank NATO allies and partners," the spokesperson said, as quoted by the website.
Pipes for the construction of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline and the Russian ship Akademik Tscherski seen at the German port of Mukran in September 2020. Photo: EPA/CLEMENS BILAN
Republican Senator Tom Cotton warned last month that US President Joe Biden’s “weak policy on Russia” was harming America and its people, according to a report.
Blinken warned in March that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being built from Russia to Germany could undermine the interests of a number of NATO allies, including Poland.
Speaking on a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels, Blinken said at the time that Biden “believes the pipeline is a bad idea, bad for Europe, bad for the United States.”
Nord Stream 2, designed to double the capacity of the existing Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline, is expected to send around 55 billion cubic metres of Russian natural gas a year directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea while bypassing the Baltic states, Poland and Ukraine.
Poland has strongly criticized the gas link amid concerns that the pipeline will make the European Union more dependent on Russian gas.
(gs/pk)
Source: biznesalert.pl, energetyka24.com, axios.com