The Biden administration plans to waive sanctions against an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who heads the company that is building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, Politico reported .
According to Politico, on Tuesday, May 18, two people with knowledge of the move said that move to invoke a national security waiver for penalties targeting the company Nord Stream 2 AG and its head Matthias Warnig will be included in a report on Russian sanctions the State Department plans to deliver to Congress on Wednesday.
“The new move from the Biden administration is likely to draw criticism from lawmakers who have argued that several pipe-laying vessels and entities, including Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO, could be subject to sanctions under the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act of 2019, known as PEESA,” Politico wrote.
However, the State Department’s report will call for four companies and four ships that are supporting the pipeline construction to be put on the sanctions list, sources said.
“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. “We continue to examine entities involved in potentially sanctionable activity and have made it clear that companies risk sanctions if they are involved in Nord Stream 2.”
Sanctions against firms building or financing the pipeline, which would deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany, has bipartisan support in Congress. But the Biden administration is keen to maintain a good relationship with the German government, which has supported the project.
Republican lawmakers in particular had pushed the Biden administration to use financial punishments to stop the pipeline.