JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Sees Russian Gas Pipeline as Leverage in Ukraine Crisis, but Needs German Help” – Wall Street Journal

Gas Flame file photo

“The Biden administration wants assurances that Berlin won’t let Nord Stream 2 start to operate during Moscow’s military pressure campaign.”

“… [Completed but not yet certified to operate,] Nord Stream 2 … is a key component of German energy plans, a potential source of Russian revenue and … a topic of [U.S.-German] discussions … over how to stop Russia[n] military pressure on Ukraine. The Biden administration [reportedly] wants … assurances that Germany won’t let the pipeline become operational if Moscow invades Ukraine …. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said [Nord Stream 2] is a private project whose certification would be decided in a nonpolitical way. …. [Germany’s] governing coalition includes the Greens, which hold the foreign and the economics ministries and have long opposed Nord Stream 2. … The Biden administration is also under pressure to send military equipment to Ukraine. …”

The Biden administration actually facilitated completion of Nord Stream 2, waiving sanctions back in May against Gazprom component Nord Stream 2 AG and its head.

Some of the sanctions contemplated against Russia if a fresh invasion occurs could include measures against Russian banks.

Click here for: “U.S. Sees Russian Gas Pipeline as Leverage in Ukraine Crisis, but Needs German Help” – Wall Street Journal/ Brett Forrest, Georgi Kantchev

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