According to the newspaper, Vadim Glamazdin and Alexander Kharchenko have been “working behind the scenes in Washington for at least four years” to prevent the construction of the gas pipeline
A group of Ukrainian lobbyists is involved in the development of US sanctions relating to the Nord Stream 2 project. This is stated in an article published on Sunday in the electronic version of The Wall Street Journal.
As noted in the material, this refers to Vadim Glamazdin, an employee of the Ukrainian company Naftogaz, who is in charge of issues related to cooperation with the authorities, as well as Alexander Kharchenko, whom the publication calls an employee of the National Security and Defence Council. According to the newspaper, they have been “working behind the scenes in Washington for at least four years” to prevent the construction of the gas pipeline. They are supported by American lobbyist Daniel Vadich.
In particular, the Ukrainians interacted with US Senators Ted Cruise (Republican, Texas) and Gene Shaheen (Democrat, New Hampshire). According to the newspaper, Vadich was an advisor to Cruz and was also involved in the development of anti-Russian sanctions, which eventually led the US oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil to abandon joint projects with Rosneft. According to the publication, this resulted in the Russian company “losing access to the most important technologies”. “We applied the same model to Nord Stream 2,” Vadich told The Wall Street Journal.
As the newspaper notes, Glamazdin and Kharchenko tried to identify a ‘vulnerable place’ in Nord Stream 2. They involved “Kiev-based think tanks specialising in the energy sector” in this work. According to the publication, these lobbyists in 2018 felt that the Russian Federation did not have vessels that could be used to lay pipes of the right diameter. They suggested that restrictions on companies that own such pipe-laying vessels would have the greatest effect. According to the newspaper, as a result, the Swiss company Allseas stopped the work due to the threat of US sanctions.