Brussels 02.09.2021 The United States will impose sanctions against Nord Stream II in case other countries create energy problems for Ukraine, President Vladimir Zelensky said on Wednesday, September 2, after his visit to Washington.
“So far, we are at a stage when President Biden personally guarantees that if Russia or other parties to Nord Stream II after its commissioning … create energy problems to Ukraine, the United States guarantees it will impose sanctions against Nord Stream II,” he told at a briefing, which was aired by the Ukraina-24 TV channel.
Zelensky said it is a “big victory,” but the issue still needs further discussion.Ukraine’s position on Nord Stream II enjoys serious support in the U.S. Congress, he added.
Nord Stream II is an international project for the construction of a gas pipeline that will run across the seafloor of the Baltic Sea from the Russian coast to Germany bypassing transit states, such as Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and other Eastern European and Baltic countries.
The new 1,230-kilometer pipeline, basically following the same route as Nord Stream I, traverses the economic zones and territorial water of five countries, namely Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.
Works under the project were suspended in December 2019 after Allseas, a Swiss company laying the pipes for the Nord Stream II pipeline, suspended pipe-laying works over possible US sanctions and recalled its vessels. The construction works were resumed only a year later in December 2020 after an intense legal struggle.
On July 21, 2021, the United States and Germany published an agreement on the Nord Stream II project, where Washington recognised that sanctions would not stop the project implementation and Berlin undertook the efforts to ensure the extension of Russian gas exports via Ukraine. The United States however reserved the right to take measures in case Russia, as it put it, uses energy as a geopolitical weapon in Europe and in case of its “aggression” against Ukraine.
The Russian side has repeatedly stressed that Nord Stream II is purely a commercial project and is being implemented jointly with European partners under the WTO rules. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov expressed resentment over attempts of a number of countries to link the future of the project to political context and various circumstances unrelated to trade. Moscow has also repeatedly underlined that it has never used energy resources as an instrument of a political pressure, even providing Georgia with gas during the war.
President Biden recent promises to support Ukraine in its struggle out of economic difficulties, the endemic corruption is not the least factor,and reminds of his own son Hunter adventures in Ukraine entering the board of Burisma energy company without any relevant experience. It is also reminded about the impeachment documents failed by Representative Marjory Taylor Greene last year, clearly stating Joe Biden should be investigated over the conflict of interests caused by his son involvement in corruption scandal in Ukraine.
Anna Van Densky blog 