WASHINGTON, July 16. /TASS/. The imposition of sanctions against participants in the Nord Stream 2 project did not make sense, since the pipeline is almost completed, US President Joe Biden said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday.
"My view on Nord Stream 2 has been known for sometime. Good friends can’t disagree. By the time I became President, it [Nord Stream 2 pipeline ] was 90% completed and imposing sanctions did not seem to make any sense," Biden said.
According to the US leader, it made more sense to discuss with Merkel whether Russia is allegedly trying to blackmail Ukraine or someone else.
The US President noted that he and the Chancellor have instructed their teams to look at practical measures they can take together to find out whether the energy security of Europe and Ukraine is strengthened or weakened by Russian actions.
"We'll see," he said.
About project
Washington openly opposes the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and actively assumes efforts aimed at blocking the project, mainly in a move to hit Moscow’s interests and support Ukraine as a country transiting Russian natural gas to Europe. Moreover, many experts suggest that the US is attempting thus to promote the supplies of its liquefied natural gas that is far more expensive than the Russian pipeline gas, to the European market. The legislation passed in the US in the past several years stipulates the possibility of using unilateral restrictions particularly against firms participating in implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project.
The Nord Stream 2 project implies the construction of two lines of a gas pipeline with a total capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year from the coast of Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. The work was suspended in December 2019 after the Swiss Allseas Group abandoned pipe-laying due to possible US sanctions. In December 2020, the construction of the gas pipeline resumed after a year's pause. By now, Nord Stream 2 is 95% completed.
On May 21, the United States blacklisted 13 Russian ships involved in the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on May 19 that Washington ditched the idea of imposing sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 operator, Nord Stream 2 AG, and the company’s Chief Executive Officer Matthias Warnig. In his words, this decision corresponds to the national interests of the United States.