President Joe Biden is expected to announce the sanctions as soon as Wednesday against the company Nord Stream 2 AG and its German chief executive officer.
The Biden administration will allow sanctions on the Russian company that built the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, two sources said Wednesday,a day after Germany blocked the pipeline’s certification because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Joe Biden is expected to announce the sanctions as soon as Wednesday against the company Nord Stream 2 AG and its Germanchief executive officer, Matthias Warnig, two sources briefed on the matter said. The move would reverse Biden’s decision last year to waive sanctions against the company and its head, a move that had infuriated some Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who said it showed weakness toward Russia.
The $11 billion pipeline, which would double Russian gas deliveries from Germany, was awaiting a permit to start operations. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz earlierhas said that his government would suspend approval for the pipeline given Russia’s incursions into Ukraine.
The State Department, including Senior Adviser for Global Energy Security Amos Hochstein, had worked behind the scenes to help convince Germany to announce it would suspend the approval, an administration official said. After Scholz announced the suspension, the White House felt that the sanctions would not antagonize the U.S. ally, the official said.
A Nord Stream 2 AG spokesperson did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
Cruz will withdraw the holds he placed on Biden nominees to the State Department as a protest to the lack of sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and Warnig, a source familiar with the situation said.
The White House decision was first reported by CNN.
The sanctions come as the White House warns Russia could attack Kyiv in the coming days. On Wednesday Ukraine was barraged with cyber attacks, and the Latvian prime minister said Russia had moved troops and tanks into eastern Ukraine.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment. Deputy National Economic Council Director Daleep Singh said on Tuesday the White House had coordinated with Germany’s government and that Nord Stream 2 “will not become operational.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/23/white-house-sanctions-nord-stream-2-pipeline-00010968
The sanctions should never have been took off in the first place, but it now looks like the final nail in the coffin for Putler’s pipe. Good to see this slimy kraut is also sanctioned. It’s time the other slimy kraut Schroder was sanctioned too.