Democrat President Joe Biden will reportedly waive sanctions against the corporation and CEO in charge of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany, according to Axios.
“The State Department will imminently send its mandatory 90-day report to Congress listing entities involved in Nord Stream 2 that deserve sanctions. Sources familiar with the drafting of the report tell Axios the State Department plans to call for sanctions against a handful of Russian ships,” Axios reported.
“The State Department will also acknowledge that the corporate entity in charge of the project (Nord Stream 2 AG) and its CEO (Putin crony and former East German intelligence officer Matthias Warnig) are engaged in sanctionable activities,” Axios continued. “However, the State Department will waive the applications of those sanctions, citing U.S. national interests.”
The report comes after the Biden administration blocked the Keystone XL pipeline, and after a cyberattack on a U.S. pipeline company caused fuel shortages across the East Coast.
Axios pointed out that the decision to waive sanctions contradicts Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement during his confirmation hearing, in which he said, “I am determined to do whatever we can to prevent that completion” of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
“And so when it comes to congressional opposition to Nord Stream 2, congressional commitment to stopping that pipeline from ever being complete, it is virtually universal and it is bipartisan,” Sen. Ted Cruz asked (R-TX). “Can you commit to this committee today that the Biden administration will hold the line, will keep the sanctions, and will prevent the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from being completed?”
“Two things, if I may, Senator. First of all, the president-elect strongly agrees with you that Nord Stream 2 is a bad idea and he has been very clear about that. I need to look at the actual legislation. I am determined to do whatever we can to prevent that completion,” Blinken responded.
After the report that the Biden administration would be actively removing barriers to Russia building the pipeline despite Blinken’s claims, Sen. Cruz responded on Twitter, calling the Biden administration “the most pro-Russia” of the modern era.
Stunning. In defiance of U.S. law, Biden is actively helping Putin build his pipeline.
Objectively speaking, the Biden administration is shaping up to be the most pro-Russia administration of the modern era. https://t.co/3FwjiIILEc
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 18, 2021
