Addis Ababa, May 20, 2021 (Walta) – The Biden administration has waived sanctions on a company building a controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.
The US also lifted sanctions on the executive – an ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin – who leads the firm behind the Nord Stream 2 project.
The move came in a report on Russian sanctions delivered to Congress by the Department of State.
Critics say the pipeline is a major geopolitical prize for the Kremlin.
The project, which would take gas from the Russian Arctic under the Baltic Sea to Germany, is already more than 95% complete.
The Department of State report notes that Nord Stream 2 AG and its chief executive, Matthias Warnig, a former East German intelligence officer, engaged in sanctionable activity.
But it concludes that it is in the US national interest to waive the sanctions
The Department of State also imposed sanctions on four Russian ships involved in the building of Nord Stream 2, though detractors said that would not be enough to stop the pipeline.
President Joe Biden has said he opposes the $11bn (£7.8bn) project. His Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during his confirmation hearing that he was “determined to do whatever we can to prevent that completion” of Nord Stream 2.
On Wednesday, America’s top diplomat met his Russian counterpart at an international summit in Iceland.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia and the US had “serious differences”, but should work together “in spheres where our interests collide”.
Blinken said Biden wanted “a predictable, stable relationship with Russia”.
Earlier Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said reports of the impending US sanctions waiver were “a positive signal”.
And Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by the state-run Tass news agency as welcoming “a chance for a gradual transition toward the normalization of our bilateral ties”.
German officials also welcomed the sanctions waiver as “a constructive step” from the Biden administration.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters: “It’s an expression of the fact that Germany is an important partner for the US, one that it can count on in the future.”
But Yuriy Vitrenko, the chief executive of Ukraine’s state-owned energy company, Naftogaz, said Kyiv would press Washington to impose sanctions to stop the pipeline.
Vitrenko said Nord Stream was Russia’s most “dangerous geopolitical project”.
(Source: BBC)