The United States weakens the restrictions on North Stream-2. For this, President Biden is subjected to harsh criticism within the country

The US Presidential Administration Joe Biden decided to abandon sanctions against the operator of the North Stream-2 pipeline and its managing director of Matthias Barnig, a former officer of the East German intelligence of Stasi, an old friend Vladimir Putin.

The decision caused a flurry of comments in the American and world press and the immediate reaction of politicians. The president is criticized not only by opponents from the Republican Party, but also by the same-party democrats. The Republicans accused the administration of that this decision allows Russian President Vladimir Putin to win a major political victory, the democrats called on the White House to reconsider their decision, and the Kremlin called the news a “positive signal”. The Wall Street Journal recalls that Keystone XL, which “strengthens the energy security” of the country, closed one of its first decrees. The President is better with the pipeline, which increases the influence and income of Russia than with the one that serves America, the WSJ editorial article notes.

Word and deed

The Axios online publication on Tuesday was the first to report that the Biden administration, which always kept repeating that the Nord Stream 2 was a pipeline to Germany on the bottom of the Baltic Sea-a “bad deal” for the United States and European allies, decided to abandon the Nord Stream 2 AG, which belongs to the Russian Gazprom and is based Switzerland, and executive director of Matthias Varnig.

In accordance with the new law, the US administration in May was supposed to submit to Congress the next report on measures against the Northern Stream 2. These reports should be sent every three months. In the report published on Wednesday, the administration announced that it would impose sanctions on four enterprises and four pipe-plate vessels participating in the project, but on the operator.

Sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG “do not meet American national interests,” explains the White House.

Sanctions “negatively affect US relations with Germany, the EU and other European allies and partners,” the State Department report said. And further-“close cooperation with Germany, the European Union and other European countries will be crucial for the US efforts to combat pandemia Covid-19, assistance in restoring the global economy, combating climate change and solving other problems, including counteracting“ malicious behavior ”from Russia and China.” The current decision means that Russian or other vessels working on the pipeline can be fined, but not a company that hired them to perform work.

At the same time, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken emphasizes that the administration will continue to oppose the completion of the construction of the gas pipeline: “Our opposition to the North Stream 2 gas pipeline is unshakable”. According to the local media, there was a split on this issue, some professional diplomats opposed, but the White House rejected their objections, sources, "familiar with the course of discussion."

American experts note that the White House, having put on one bowl of Libra of Relations with Germany and the upcoming summit with Vladimir Putin, and to the other, the requests of the countries of Eastern Europe, the Baltic and Ukraine, made a choice in favor of Merkel and Putin. A step calculated and fearless, given the flurry of criticism against Biden. “This demonstrates that ultimately the confrontation of Russia was less important,” said John Hearbst, a former US Ambassador to Ukraine: “This really undermines Biden’s position.”

In the recent past, the only thing that lawmakers supported President Trump was the fight against the Northern Stream 2. The double pipeline, with a length of 1230 km, is designed to double the throughput of the existing underwater route from Russian gas deposits to Europe - the original Northern Stream, which opened in 2011. Trying to promote the American liquefied natural gas as an alternative, the 45th president imposed sanctions to scare away Western companies participating in construction, investors and even insurers with certifying companies. Although the project was launched in 2016, Trump managed to postpone its completion throughout the entire presidency before transferring the baton Biden. Due to sanctions risks, Western partners began to leave the project: the Norwegian Certification Provider Det Norske Veritas AS, the Zurich Insure Group AG and the German Munich Re stopped covering the risk of building the Northern Stream 2, based in Switzerland. The main thing is that the Swiss contractor company Allseas Group SA recalled its pipeline vessels when it remained to lay 160 kilometers of the line.

And now, instead of “expanding and deepening” Trump sanctions, Biden gave a “positive signal” at the same time Berlin and the Kremlin.

The announcement of the rejection of sanctions was made several hours before negotiations between Secretary of State Blinken with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Lavrov in Iceland on the margins of the Arctic Council.

Congress reaction

“Amazing. Contrary to the laws of the United States, Biden actively helps Putin to build his pipeline, ”wrote on Twitter the Senator-Republican Ted Cruz from Texas:“ The Biden administration turns into the most pro-Russian administration of the modern era. ”

Senator Ben Sass, a member of the intelligence committee, said that the administration made a “strategic mistake”: “Two months ago, President Biden called Putin a“ killer ”, but today he plans to give Putin, his regime and his friends huge strategic levers in Europe. You can’t pretend to be a hawk against Russia, and then just turn over, ”said the senator.

The president is also criticized by single -party ones. Chairman of the Senate Committee on International Relations Bob Menendes (New Jersey): “I am against the decision of the Biden administration on the rejection of sanctions against NS2 AG and Mattias Varnig. I do not see how today's decision will contribute to the US efforts to counteract Russian aggression in Europe. ”

On Thursday, 14 Republican senators promptly submitted a bill, which again imposes sanctions against companies participating in construction. In case of adoption, the American administration will be obliged to introduce restrictions against subcontractors of any organization related to the project.

“At the risk of weakening the global positions of America, the Biden administration agrees with the erroneous strategy of Germany, which will give Putin control over our allies in Europe,” said the author of the document Senator Kevin Kramer, Republican from New York, “Putin’s pipeline must be stopped before the administration forces the United States on his own bitter experience to understand why energy security means national security means national. safety". A recent acute fuel shortage due to the hacker hacking of Colonial Pipeline, the operator of the largest oil pipeline on the east coast of the United States, which is accused of Russian hackers, inflated gasoline prices in 17 states and emphasized the vulnerability of energy security. Hackers received their ransom.

The first sanctions imposed by Biden against Russia were caused, among other things, hackers into the systems of largest ministries and private companies in the United States through SolarWinds software. Biden was going to talk about cyber attacks on America at a meeting with Putin. In any case, the White House announced this. And whether it will be and will be a meeting at all, they decide in Moscow.

Real Politik

In recent months, Poland and Ukraine have publicly and privately appealed to the Biden administration with an appeal to immediately take measures to stop the pipeline, Washington Post notes. “We still expect that the United States will take decisive actions to stop the construction of the North Stream 2 gas pipeline; It’s not too late, ”the electronic letter of the Embassy of Poland in Washington says on Wednesday. “Many countries perceive the Nord Stream 2 as a project clearly marked by geopolitics aimed at strengthening the positions of Russia and undermining the energy security of Ukraine and the entire region,” the report said.

The pipeline has been a source of tension between Washington and Berlin for many years. Chancellor Merkel claims that this is a purely commercial issue that should not be regulated by geopolitics or be related to human rights. But in September, after the federal elections, the new government can change everything. The Green Party is ahead of the Christian Democratic Union Merkel by polls, and its leader Annalen Berobok said that Germany should reject the project.

In the White House, making a decision on sanctions, this factor was probably taken into account. Even the President’s critics note that he gathered a team of professionals. The abolition of sanctions is completely fits into Biden’s concept: “go and chew at the same time”, to cooperate, where it is profitable, protecting his, first of all, interests and restraint where it is necessary. It applies to China, and Russia, and other "partner rivals." But how far can you go, achieving "stable and predictable" relationships?

The eternal contradiction of the American presidents between the declared ideals and the practical interests of “real politics” and this time caused a violent discussion: whether Biden is right in relation to Germany, Russia, countries of Eastern Europe and, especially, Ukraine. As the professor-economist Paul Roderik Gregory writes in the Hill publication:

“I suspect that Biden plays the game of the Obama administration: concessions in exchange for concessions. This will not work with Putin, who perceives any concessions as a sign of weakness.

Even more dangerous is the fact that Putin will never go to Ukrainian settlement, which will create a peaceful, oriented to the West and prosperous Ukraine. This means that the only way to any agreement is the sale of the interests of Ukraine by its reintegration in the sphere of influence of Russia. ”

But such a price is unlikely to pay the US president (whoever he is) in his right mind and firm memory. Obviously, on the eve of the Summit, Biden made another inviting gesture (the first to call and the proposal to Putin to meet). But the “rubble” in the relationship (in the words of Sergei Lavrov) remain too large. Partial weakening of sanctions on the Northern Stream - 2 can change little in principle.