Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau thanked US Senator Jeanne Shaheen for her engagement in imposing sanctions on Nord Steam 2 and emphasized that the Russian-German pipeline project poses a threat not only to energy security but also relations between allies.
Thank you, Honorable Madam Senator, for your continued leadership on one of the seminal issues facing U.S. trusted European allies & partners. #NordStream2 will compromise our energy security and already drives a wedge between allies. It must not be allowed to proceed unchecked! https://t.co/ZSRv2zfePk
— Zbigniew Rau (@RauZbigniew) February 21, 2021
Rau’s tweet was in response to US Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s commentary. On Feb. 12, Shaheen, alongside Republican Senator Jim Risch, filed a motion to President Joe Biden’s administration in which they called for the introduction of sanctions which will block Nord Stream 2’s construction.
Both senators also appealed to the US Department of State to not delay in passing over to US Congress a report necessary for introducing sanctions on legal entities involved in the pipeline’s construction.
Shaheen posted on her efforts concerning stopping the pipeline’s construction on Twitter on Saturday:
Pleased @POTUS took steps to halt construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but more must be done. I look forward to being briefed by the admin on additional measures to stop threats against our transatlantic community posed by the Kremlin through completion of this pipeline. https://t.co/BMw3J2qJzb
— Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (@SenatorShaheen) February 20, 2021
On Saturday, the White House announced that the US State Department will decide against imposing new sanctions against Nord Stream 2’s participants. Only the barge Fortuna and its owner KWT-Rus have been entered into the sanction list.
According to Bloomberg, the new US administration has not decided to impose sanctions on any German or Western European companies involved in the project due to a desire to avoid conflict with Berlin.
According to Russian Gazprom, Nord Stream’s main investor, the pipeline is 94 percent complete. It consists of two 1,230-kilometer-long pipes and is expected to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Germany on an annual basis.
The pipeline’s construction has been strongly opposed by Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic States, and the US. The project’s critics note that it would increase Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and would increase Moscow’s influence on European politics. The pipeline is supported by Germany, Austria and a few other EU states.
