The United States suspended its sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline project because they could hardly prevent the project's completion, U.S. Department of State spokesperson Ned Price has told reporters.
"President Biden couldn’t have been any clearer when he met with Chancellor Merkel last week. He said that we continue to oppose the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. We view it as a Kremlin geopolitical project that is intended to expand Russia’s influence over Europe’s energy resources and to circumvent Ukraine," he said. "It is a bad deal for Ukraine, and for Europe more broadly."
"It’s also worth a reminder of what this administration inherited, and that is a pipeline that was over 90% complete when we assumed office on January 20th. So yes, we have continued to oppose the pipeline, and most recently in May a couple months ago now we imposed sanctions on 19 entities and vessels connected with Nord Stream 2. And I think it’s noteworthy that in total we have levied these 19 sanctions compared to only two targets that were sanctioned by the previous administration," Price continued.
"We recognize all along, however, that sanctions were unlikely to prevent the pipeline’s construction. And so that is why the Secretary issued the waivers in - on May 19th in line with President Biden’s commitment to rebuild relations with our European allies," the spokesperson added.
