Germany has suspended the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline following Russia’s move Monday into Ukrainian territories, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced.
“With regard to the latest developments, we need to reassess the situation also with regard to Nord Stream 2. It sounds very technocratic, but it is the necessary administrative step in order to stop certification of the pipeline,” Scholz said in Berlin on Tuesday.
RUSSIA FORMALLY RECOGNIZES TWO SEPARATIST REGIONS IN EASTERN UKRAINE, PAVING WAY FOR INVASION
The pipeline, which is 750 miles and goes from Russia to Germany, was completed in September but had not yet received final certification.
A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two occupied regions — the Luhansk People’s Republic, or LPR, and the Donetsk People’s Republic, or DPR — as independent in Ukraine, marking a significant development in the conflict.
Following the decision, the Russian leader ordered a “peacekeeping operation” in those regions, which the U.S. doesn’t consider a “new step,” a senior administration official told reporters, because Russian troops have been there since 2014.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order in response that prevents new investments in the regions, stopped the importation and exportation of goods into the U.S., directly or indirectly, and it also provides the authority to impose sanctions on specific individuals, according to a White House fact sheet.
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These sanctions are not the same as the ones that the administration has previously threatened if Russia invades Ukraine.
