U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has expressed confidence that new U.S. sanctions will prevent the completion of a controversial Russian natural gas pipeline to Europe.
"This project, I believe, will never deliver gas," Cruz told an online conference on December 16 organized by the Atlantic Council.
The sanctions target "critical vulnerabilities without which the pipeline cannot be completed," RFE/RL cited the senator as saying.
Congress earlier this month passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes legislation sanctioning any companies that provide upgrading services for vessels working on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline or that provide insurance and certification services for the project.
The sanctions legislation will take effect should U.S. President Donald Trump sign the NDAA. The White House has threatened to veto the massive NDAA over separate legislation in the package.
The U.S. in December 2019 passed a bill that imposed sanctions on vessels laying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, forcing Swiss-based Allseas to stop work on the project shortly before its completion.
Nord Stream 2 was scheduled for completion in early 2020 but was delayed by the first round of U.S. sanctions. Russia is now seeking to lay the remaining 100 kilometers of the 1,230-kilometer pipeline, announcing earlier this month that it had begun work on a 2.6 kilometer stretch in German waters.
