US

A group of members of the US House of Representatives appealed to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken demanding new sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under construction. They stated this in a letter published by the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressmen expressed deep concern about how the administration of US President Joe Biden is implementing the plan to impose sanctions on the pipeline. In particular, they are concerned that when numerous companies are mentioned in open sources that are “suspected of being involved in activities punishable by sanctions,” the administration is still asking for additional information.

“Critical to our ability to exercise congressional oversight and enforce the spirit and letter of the law is a better understanding of the “evidence threshold” that the State Department uses when weighing additional sanctions,” the letter said.

The authors of the message are also concerned that the strong statements of the White House against Nord Stream 2, however, are not backed up by the same actions. “Instead, the administration appears to be using hard language, hiding behind an opaque ‘evidence threshold’ to avoid full imposition of mandatory congressional sanctions as required by law,” they said.