Nord Stream 2: Biden administration piles pressure on new german government

 The US government is losing patience with german officials who - to date - do not want to commit to a dropping of the contentious pipeline in case of a russian aggression against Ukraine. From the US viewpoint it remains to be if newly appointed foreign secretary Annalena Baerbock gets her way and if new german chancellor Olaf Scholz can preserve his independence towards the general position of his social-democratic party who supports this project, writes WELT:

Seldom has a Chancellor found himself caught between two superpowers so quickly. Not only congratulations for Olaf Scholz (SPD) came from Washington and Moscow, but also tangible pressure. The US wants to deter Russia from invading Ukraine - and, parallel to Scholz's inauguration, made it clear that they consider the federal government to be part of the problem.

"We have had intensive discussions with both the outgoing and the new German government about the issue of Nord Stream 2 in connection with a possible invasion," said US President Joe Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan. "If Vladimir Putin wants gas to flow through this pipeline, he may not want to take the risk of invading Ukraine."

The message: If Putin attacks Ukraine, Berlin must stop the German-Russian pipeline. The US is fed up with Germany's geostrategic ghost ride. Putin had tightened Russia's course against Europe over two decades - but the German chancellors stuck to the billion-dollar pipeline project.

Nord Stream 2: USA and Germany reach agreement

After month long negotiations Germany and the US came to a compromise on the approach towards the contentious Nord Stream 2 pipeline. In particular the case of the sanctions against germany companies involved in the construction and the safeguard of Ukraine's interest as a gas transit country.

Read the reporting in german newspaper WELT:

The US and Germany have reached an agreement that allows the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline to be completed without the imposition of new US sanctions. State Secretary Victoria Nuland said this to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress on Wednesday.

Both governments plan to announce details of the agreement shortly. Washington and Berlin have agreed to impose sanctions on Russia and German companies if Moscow should use the pipeline as a political weapon, said the third highest US diplomat.

The federal government had previously expressed confidence that an agreement would soon be reached in the dispute with the USA over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The financial news agency Bloomberg and the "Wall Street Journal" had reported, citing sources in Berlin and Washington, that an agreement had been reached.

In the agreement, Germany promises Ukraine additional financial aid of a good 200 million euros. Berlin wants to fund bilateral energy projects in Ukraine with around 70 million euros, especially in the field of renewable energies and energy efficiency, as stated in the agreement published on Wednesday.

Nord Stream 2: Biden clarifies statements concerning sanctions

The report from the renowned news agency Axios hit, not only in the US capital Washington: President Joe Biden waived sanctions against the pipeline company Nord Stream 2, registered in Switzerland, and its managing director, the German Putin intimate partner Matthias Warnig.

So far, Biden had criticized the underwater pipeline, which is supposed to connect Russia directly to the German Baltic Sea coast, as a "bad deal for Europe". The tube increases the dependence of the Western European allies on Russia and helps to finance an aggressive Russian expansion policy. This is what the US has argued so far. Now, however, in his quarterly report to Congress, Biden seemed to relent.

The German government had always defended the project led by the Russian Gazprom group - and also fought with Washington. US sanctions threats against German project partners were sharply rejected as unlawful interference in German and European sovereignty.

Now Biden's statements seemed to point to relaxation: The statement by the US President was seen as "a step towards us," said Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maaß.

People in Russia also listened: If the media report is correct, then "there is a hint of normality in American politics," said Vice Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in Moscow, according to the Interfax agency. The outrage among the pipeline opponents in the Republican Party in Washington was correspondingly loud.

The top Republican in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, said that if the Axios report were correct, it would be an indication that the Biden administration never really wanted to prevent the pipeline.

But Biden was misunderstood, as the circumstances of his latest statement suggest. The US president had simply responded to repeated, persistent inquiries from the Republicans with a clarification regarding the project company Nord Stream 2 itself. But that had never been the target of the US sanctions, not even under Biden's predecessor Trump.

Source: WELT

Nord Stream 2: context of the abandonment of sanctions by Biden administration

 In the dispute over the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the government of US President Joe Biden waived sanctions against the operating company - also out of consideration for relations with Germany. In a report sent to Congress by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, it is said that the waiver of punitive measures against Nord Stream 2 AG in Zug, Switzerland, its German managing director Matthias Warnig and four other employees is in the “national interest” of the USA. The reason given was that such sanctions "had a negative impact on US relations with Germany, the EU and other European allies and partners".

The report submitted to the German Press Agency further states that, on the basis of the US sanctions laws against the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 and the Russian-Turkish gas project Turkstream, punitive measures would be issued against four Russian ships that laid pipes. Sanctions would also be imposed on four Russian institutions. Nevertheless, with Washington’s recent positioning, it seems increasingly unlikely that the completion of Nord Stream 2 will still be prevented over the last few meters. The Republicans accuse the Democrat Biden of having given Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin "a present".

According to the US Department report, Nord Stream 2 AG and managing director Warnig have also violated the sanctions laws. Blinken decided to forego penalties. This creates space for talks at diplomatic level with Germany in order to address the risks for Ukraine and European energy security through the completion of the pipeline.

In plain language, this should mean that the Americans are now expecting a sign of concession from the German side - perhaps by the next sanctions report, Blinking, to Congress in three months. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) has already brought up an idea for a compromise: to finish the pipeline, but make operations dependent on Russia's behavior. With the smaller coalition partner SPD, however, such mind games are not so well received. In contrast to the Union, the Greens and the FDP, the Social Democrats are firmly committed to the pipeline project, without any restrictions.

In the federal government, the extensive waiver of sanctions by the USA is causing a sigh of relief for now. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) speaks of a “constructive step”. He sees the decision as a sign of appreciation for Germany, an important ally. In Berlin one has recently been increasingly annoyed that the much-invoked new beginning in German-American relations after the disastrous era of US President Donald Trump was overshadowed by the ongoing pipeline dispute. You now have to see “that this project does not burden our really excellent cooperation in any way,” Maas said on Wednesday.

The waiver of sanctions should also ease the strained relationship between the USA and Russia to a certain extent. The Russian company Gazprom is formally the sole shareholder of Nord Stream 2 AG. In addition, however, the German corporations Wintershall Dea - a joint venture between BASF and LetterOne - and Uniper, as well as the Dutch-British Shell, Engie from France and OMV from Austria are added as “supporters”. The Russian government spoke of a step towards normalizing the strained relations with Washington. Putin may now agree to a European summit proposed by Biden in June.

The government of the Democrat Biden may meet with applause for its actions in Berlin and Moscow. But she gives the Republicans in the US Congress a great opportunity - also because Blinken had promised to prevent the completion of the pipeline as best it could. It doesn't help that the chief diplomat is now declaring that they are still strictly against Nord Stream 2. Republican Senator Ted Cruz - one of the authors of the US sanctions laws against Nord Stream 2 - is already outraged about the “Biden-Putin pipeline” ». The top Republican in the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Jim Risch, accused the Biden government of putting German and Russian interests above those of allies in Central, Eastern and Northern Europe.

Both Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly support the sanctions laws against Nord Stream 2. Biden has also repeatedly called the project “a bad deal for Europe”. In fact, since taking office on January 20, he has hardly taken any concrete action to stop the pipeline. In the previous State Department sanctions report three months ago - the first one that was blinked - no new sanctions were imposed. What goes down in the criticism of the Republicans, however: Even the Trump administration has only issued punitive measures against a single Russian ship and its operating company.

Trump - who was repeatedly accused of being too Putin-friendly - regularly railed against Nord Stream 2. But the Republican also shied away from imposing far-reaching punitive measures. He would have had the power to do so as US President, regardless of the sanctions laws against the pipeline. Senator Cruz - otherwise a loyal Trump ally - said at a hearing in Congress in December 2019: "If the pipeline is completed, it will be the fault of the members of this administration who sat on their buttocks."

Source: WELT

US: Biden administration determined to prevent Nord Stream 2

 US president elect Joe Biden has made clear that he will not allow the completion of the pipeline, announces new sanctions on involved companies in January 2021, write Bloomberg:

The U.S. is drawing up additional sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project, the latest obstacle in the path of the 9.5 billion-euro ($11.2 billion) Russia-to-Germany link that’s been halted almost a year.

House and Senate negotiators agreed to target insurers and technical certification companies working on the project in a defense bill that must pass by the end of the year, according to three people familiar with the matter. The move would add to penalties that stopped work on the natural gas link under the Baltic Sea just a few weeks before it was to be completed.

The rules could inflame tensions between the U.S. and Chancellor Angela Merkel over the project, which would bring gas into northern Germany and help Russia’s state-backed exporter Gazprom PJSC tighten its grip on energy supplies to the region. President Donald Trump, backed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, have criticized Europe’s reliance on Russia and offered U.S. cargoes of liquefied natural gas as an alternative.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-11/nord-stream-2-sanctions-to-be-included-in-u-s-defense-bill