A controversial Russian gas pipeline to Germany could soon reach completion in defiance of American sanctions laws, say senior State Department officials.
Republican and Democratic national security officials and experts regard the pipeline as a mechanism for Russian President Vladimir Putin to tighten economic ties with Germany at the expense of NATO allies. Yet, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee the pipeline is “virtually complete” in the face of lawmakers eager to see aggressive implementation of U.S. sanctions.
“We oppose it,” Blinken testified Wednesday. “I’ve been on the job, I think, five weeks. The pipeline is 95% complete. It started, construction started in 2018. So I wish we didn’t find ourselves in this situation with a pipeline that’s virtually complete.”
Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the committee, acknowledged the extent of the construction while insisting that Biden blacklist the participants involved in the final leg of the project.
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“I agree, and I think … sanctioning these 15 entities would be great,” McCaul said Wednesday.
State Department spokesman Ned Price, pressed about whether the argument advanced by McCaul and other Russia hawks would carry the day, reiterated Blinken’s assessment that the pipeline was “virtually complete” when the Biden administration took office.
“I think it’s important,” Price said. “All that notwithstanding … Nord Stream 2 is a bad idea. It goes against Europe’s own stated energy interests. It goes against our interests in the region, as well.”
Those comments imply that U.S. officials see the pipeline as a fait accompli. The project’s direct route to Germany could allow Kremlin officials to turn off the gas that flows through Ukraine into Poland, empowering Russian President Vladimir Putin to deprive those former Soviet vassal states of gas while minimizing the prospective backlash from Western European capitals.
“If we allow this pipeline to be completed, it would be a tremendous victory for Vladimir Putin,” McCaul told Blinken. “Yet, the mandatory sanctions passed with bipartisan, bicameral support in the last two National Defense Authorization bills have not been fully implemented. We are deeply concerned that the administration’s strong statements opposing the pipeline are not being matched by equally strong actions.”
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Price avoided any specific prediction about prospective sanctions. “I have no doubt, you should have no doubt, that this administration will follow the law,” he told reporters. “If the law states that entities should be sanctioned for their pipe-laying activity, I suspect you will be hearing more about that from us.”
