Congressmen called on Blinken to restore sanctions against Nord Stream 2

A group of 21 Republican congressmen appealed to the HEAD of the State Department, Anthony Blinken, with a request to cancel the decision to refuse to impose sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG (the operator of the Nord Stream 2 project). The text of the appeal was published by the press service of the Republican part of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives.

According to congressmen, the completion of the construction of the gas pipeline will allow Russia "further destabilizing behavior in Europe." By deciding to impose sanctions and then immediately abandon this idea, the US administration has demonstrated a contradiction in its repeated disagreement with the completion of the gas pipeline, the authors of the appeal believe.

Members of the House of Representatives stress that the lifting of sanctions shows that the White House values ​​Germany's interests above the rest of Europe. “Europe's growing dependence on Russian gas, which produces higher emissions than other energy sources, is contrary to your goal of reducing emissions,” they say.

The legislators also note that the implementation of Nord Stream 2 will make Ukraine "more vulnerable to Russian aggression." “The administration needs to explain why it continues to delay the imposition of critical sanctions, despite the fact that the construction of the gas pipeline is 95% completed. <...> We ask you to immediately reverse these decisions and use the mandatory powers given by Congress to impose sanctions on insurance and certification companies that participate in the project, ”the appeal says.