US Republicans warn Biden against Nord Stream 2 ‘backdoor deal’

According to EURACTIV, Leading Republicans have warned President Joe Biden against striking a “deal through the back door” with Germany on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. They are also calling for further sanctions against companies involved in the Baltic Sea project.

Strong government statements against the pipeline were not followed by equally strong measures, the group of Republicans complained in a letter dated 5 March and sent to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“We fear that this discrepancy can only be explained by the desire to leave room for a deal through the back door with Germany. Any deal that does not stop the completion of Nord Stream 2 would be misguided,” they wrote in the letter released by the press service of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Trump administration, like the Obama administration before it, opposed the project on the grounds it would strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin’s economic and political influence over Europe.

Stopping Nord Stream 2 has long been a bipartisan priority, with members of the US Congress arguing that the pipeline’s completion would strengthen Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at the expense of European allies.  Russia has cut deliveries of the fuel to Ukraine and parts of Europe in winter during pricing disputes.

Biden himself had publicly called the pipeline a “bad deal for Europe,” and a sanctions package on the project is continuing to be work in progress.

The German government and businesses have repeatedly said they will not abandon the Nord Stream 2 project, despite US sanctions.

Sources from German business circles told EURACTIV Germany earlier this year that there is no concrete worry of negative economic impacts caused by the US sanctions.

So far, the US has only imposed sanctions against the Russian company KVT-RUS, which operates the ‘Fortuna’ laying ship, because of Nord Stream 2, which former US President Donald Trump announced shortly before the end of her term in January.