Republican senators are circulating a bill that would reimpose sanctions against Nord Stream 2 and its Russian-allied CEO after the Biden administration waived them, the Washington Examiner has learned, after the GOP and some Democrats condemned letting the Kremlin-backed project off the hook.
The proposed legislation, led by Senate Armed Services Committee member Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, and joined by other members, has been dubbed the Protecting Our Well-being by Expanding Russian Sanctions Act. A statement from Cramer’s office says the bill would “build on recently-passed bipartisan sanctions against Russia” and “reinstate and expand sanctions the Biden Administration is waiving on Russian people and entities” involved in the pipeline’s construction.
“Days after Russian hackers successfully attacked an American pipeline, President Biden decided to give Vladimir Putin his own pipeline and hand him a major geopolitical win that cuts right through the NATO alliance,” Cramer said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “At the risk of weakening America’s global standing, the Biden Administration is acquiescing to a misguided German strategy which will give Putin a grip on our allies in Europe. The Putin Pipeline must be stopped, and I urge my colleagues to join this effort before the Administration makes the United States learn the hard way why energy security means national security.”
Thus far, Cramer is joined by Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley, Rick Scott, Shelley Moore Capito, Thom Tillis, and Steve Daines, the Washington Examiner has been told, and the proposal is still being passed around Capitol Hill.
Cramer’s office said the POWERS Act would “build on sanctions” passed in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, signed by former President Donald Trump in December 2019, by “expanding the sanctions to subcontractors of any entity” working on the pipeline, and it would also “reinstate and expand any sanctions against the company managing the project as well as its corporate officers whose sanctions were waived” by Biden this week.
LAWMAKERS BLAST BIDEN SANCTIONS WAIVER FOR NORD STREAM 2
Under both former President Barack Obama and Trump, the U.S. and Congress opposed the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, designed to carry Russian natural gas to Europe under the Baltic Sea. The pipeline would bypass Ukraine, denying that U.S. partner the money it would make helping transport the energy itself, as the Kremlin attempts to squeeze Ukraine and gain influence in Europe. Critics of the Russian pipeline project see it as a malign foreign influence operation by the Kremlin. Sanctions that the Trump administration placed on the Russian pipeline, which is nearly finished, forced construction to halt before its completion.
The Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act of 2019 requires the secretary of state to provide reports to Congress every 90 days related to which people, companies, and vessels should be sanctioned for their involvement in the construction of Nord Stream 2.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement on Wednesday, noting vessels controlled by the Russian Federal State Budgetary Institution Marine Rescue Service would be subject to sanctions, but also announcing: “I have determined that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, its CEO Matthias Warnig, and Nord Stream 2 AG’s corporate officers.”
“Today’s actions demonstrate the Administration’s commitment to energy security in Europe, consistent with the President’s pledge to rebuild relationships with our allies and partners in Europe,” Blinken said. “We will continue to oppose the completion of this project, which would weaken European energy security and that of Ukraine and Eastern flank NATO and EU countries. Our opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is unwavering.”
Warnig, the CEO of Nord Stream 2, is a former member of the Stasi, the secret police for Soviet-controlled East Germany. He is listed as a deputy chairman for the Russian state-controlled Rosneft energy company, is an ally of Putin, and received a sanctions waiver from the U.S., along with waivers to the company’s top officers. The State Department report said Blinken determined “it is important to the national interests of the United States to waive the application of sanctions.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said this week that this could be “a glimmer of normalcy in American politics,” according to TASS, a state-run media outlet, with the Kremlin spokesman adding, “Then there will probably be a chance for a gradual transition toward the normalization of our bilateral ties.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is stepping down this year, has been a big proponent of the pipeline. Heiko Mass, Merkel’s foreign minister, said that the move by the U.S. was a “constructive step.” But Annalena Baerbock, the head of Germany’s Green Party, which is now leading in many polls ahead of September’s election, opposes Nord Stream 2.
The Polish Embassy in the U.S. also released a statement opposing the pipeline.
“Many countries perceive Nord Stream 2 as a project visibly marked by geopolitics, aiming to strengthen the position of Russia as a major gas supplier to Europe and to undermine Ukraine and the entire region’s energy security,” the Polish Embassy said.
Yuriy Vitrenko, the CEO of the Ukrainian state-owned Naftogaz energy company, relayed concerns that many Ukrainians have about the Russian energy project.
“The completion of Nord Stream 2 wouldn’t affect just Ukraine. This is Russia’s most malign and dangerous geopolitical project. It would divide Europe, leaving half the continent completely vulnerable to Moscow’s energy coercion,” Vitrenko said.
Sen. Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized this move too.
“The administration has said that the pipeline is a bad idea and that it is a Russian malign influence project. I share that sentiment, but fail to see how today’s decision will advance U.S. efforts to counter Russian aggression in Europe,” the New Jersey Democrat said.
Sen. James Risch, the GOP ranking member on Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was harsh.
“The administration seems to be suggesting it is somehow in the United States’s best interest to allow this Russian malign influence project to be completed,” the Idaho Republican said. “This move contradicts everything that President Biden and Secretary Blinken have previously said about Nord Stream 2’s malign influence and is a gift to Putin.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, said that the “completion of this pipeline poses a threat to U.S. security interests and the stability of our partners in the region.”
The new State Department report sought to explain the Biden administration’s reasoning.
“The German government remains fully committed to the Nord Stream 2 project,” the State Department said, adding, “The EU and many of its member states continue to oppose U.S. sanctions related to Nord Stream 2, viewing them as a violation of German and EU sovereignty. Ukraine and Central and Eastern European countries continue to strongly urge the United States to oppose the Nord Stream 2 project.”
The State Department said that imposing sanctions on Warnig and others “would negatively impact U.S. relations with Germany, the EU, and other European allies and partners.” The report added that “close cooperation with Germany, the EU, and other European allies and partners will also be critical in the success of U.S. efforts” on issues including combating COVID-19 and “climate change” and countering “malign behavior by Russia and China.” It also said that “the issuance of this waiver will also provide space for diplomatic engagement with Germany to address the risks a completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline would pose.”
Rep. Michael McCaul, the ranking GOP member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, blasted this reasoning.
“Not only did the administration fail to implement sanctions on numerous entities who are working to complete this Russian malign influence project, but they made the absolutely ridiculous claim that recklessly waiving sanctions on Russian Gazprom subsidiary Nord Stream 2 AG, its CEO — a well-known Putin crony Matthias Warnig — and its corporate officers is somehow in the U.S. ‘national interest.’ The completion of this pipeline will threaten Ukraine’s security, deepen Europe’s dangerous energy dependence on the Kremlin and further enrich the corrupt Putin regime,” the Texas Republican said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
During his confirmation hearing the day before Biden’s inauguration, Blinken told Republican Sen. Ted Cruz that Biden “strongly agrees with you that Nord Stream 2 is a bad idea.”
This week, Cruz tweeted: “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.”
