On Tuesday, Former Vice President Joe Biden was criticized over reports that the US is going to remove sanctions over a company responsible for constructing Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
Axios reported, “The State Department will also acknowledge that the corporate entity in charge of the project (Nord Stream 2 AG) and its CEO (Putin crony and former East German intelligence officer Matthias Warnig) are engaged in sanctionable activities. However, the State Department will waive the applications of those sanctions, citing U.S. national interests.”
Instead, Biden will only sanction a few ships, which falls short of additional actions that would be effective in stopping the pipeline.
In effect, the US’s weak stance against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would be handing Putin even more leverage and influence into the heart of Europe.
This is a huge deal. Lawmakers on both sides have been pushing Biden to implement the mandatory sanctions to cripple the pipeline. https://t.co/7M0BqxQOGd
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) May 18, 2021
These reports follow Biden’s blocking of the US’s Keystone XL Pipeline and crippling of our nation’s largest pipeline by a group of Russia-based hackers.
Stunning. 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. https://t.co/3FwjiIILEc
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 18, 2021
Biden killed the Keystone Pipeline, but is waiving sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream II. This coming less than a week after the Colonial Pipeline was hacked. Why does Biden believe American pipelines are bad but Russian pipelines are good?
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) May 18, 2021
President Biden is caving to Vladimir Putin.https://t.co/pPSQ14cgGe
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) May 18, 2021