Biden imposes sanctions over Russian gas pipeline

 The U.S. government has imposed new sanctions on three Russian ships and companies involved in constructing a controversial gas pipeline from Russia to Europe.

The move comes as lawmakers from both parties criticize the administration for not doing enough to halt the Nord Stream 2 project. Nord Stream (formerly known as North Transgas and North European Gas Pipeline) is a system of offshore natural gas pipelines in Europe, running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.

The newly imposed sanctions target a Russian ship, the Ostap Sheremeta, involved in laying pipe for the project that is nearly complete; the Russian owner of another vessel, JSC Nobility; and the construction firm Konstanta OOO.

The sanctions notably do not target the Nord Stream AG firm, which is the project’s owner, or its top executives. U.S. authorities had earlier this year waived those sanctions, prompting severe pushback from members of Congress who believe the pipeline is a dangerous Russian power play.

Friday’s announcement came just a month after the U.S and Germany reached a deal to allow Nord Stream 2′s completion without the imposition of U.S. sanctions on German entities.

Under the terms of the July 21 deal, the U.S. and Germany committed to countering any Russian attempt to use the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a political weapon. And, they agreed to support Ukraine and Poland, both of which are bypassed by the project and fear Russia’s intentions, by funding alternative energy and development projects.

Eight European countries, jointly have fiercely opposed the project stating that the completion of Nord Stream 2 “will strengthen the impact of Russian gas in the European energy mix, endanger the national security of EU member states and the United States, and threaten the already precarious security and sovereignty of Ukraine,” saying it “will give Russia yet another tool to pressure and blackmail Ukraine.”

Poland and Ukraine expressed their displeasure over the decision to allow the pipeline’s completion and said the efforts to reduce the Russian security threat were not sufficient.

Both Republicans and Democrats have assailed the administration’s approach. Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, the highest-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Biden administration “continues to disregard the intent of congressionally mandated sanctions” by exempting some parties to the project. “Instead, the president has paved the way for this Russian malign influence project to become operational,” he said.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has gone so far as to block almost all of Biden’s nominees for senior State Department positions over the waivers. Cruz accused Biden of handing Russian President Vladimir Putin “a generational geopolitical victory every day with his abject failure to stop the pipeline”.