U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke over the telephone with Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and expressed the United States’ opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.
"Secretary Blinken underscored the U.S. commitment to work with Allies and partners to counter Russian efforts to undermine our collective security, and in that vein, emphasized U.S. opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline," Price said.
Axios reported earlier on Tuesday that the Biden administration will waive sanctions against the corporate entity and the top executive managing the construction of the Nord Stream 2. The State Department, in its Nord Stream 2 sanctions list prepared for Congress, will waive those sanctions proposed against the Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO, Matthias Warnig, using U.S. national interests as justification, the publication reported, citing two sources briefed on the decision.
Both Blinken and Maas discussed the importance of transatlantic cooperation in order to managed challenges posed by Russia and China, Price said. They also spoke of deescalation in the Middle East and troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, he added.
