The US State Department did not propose new sanctions against Nord Stream-2 in a report to Congress. Political analyst shared his opinion on the possible reasons for this decision.
The report submitted by the State Department to the US Congress does not contain new sanctions against Nord Stream-2. Bloomberg reports this with reference to the relevant document.
According to the agency, the report mentions the Russian ship “Fortuna” and its owner, the company “KBT-Rus”, which are already under US sanctions under other articles. Any European companies involved in the construction of the gas pipeline, in particular German ones, are not mentioned in the document. It is noted that new sanctions are “inadequate”.
As noted by Bloomberg, the absence of new restrictions reflects the intention of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken “not to challenge” Gazprom, so as not to alienate Berlin from Washington.
On the air of Sputnik radio, a political scientist, dean of the Faculty of Politics and International Relations of the Siberian Branch of the RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation, Sergei Kozlov, shared his vision of the situation.
“Realizing that Nord Stream-2 will be completed in any case, because Germany is vitally interested in this, Washington is now talking about preserving its reputation. And therefore, the new Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has already announced that the United States is ready to soften sanctions against European companies in response to some concessions from Germany. That is, the United States is trying to save their reputation: they confirm that there are sanctions, they mention the previous companies, but in fact, they are gradually starting to put on the brakes, because everyone understands that it is useless to undertake anything. From my point of view, the United States has exhausted all the arsenal that they had to stop the project, so this decision is strategic in nature”, – Sergei Kozlov said.