Democrats urge Biden administration to sanction Russia pipeline to EU

Two Democratic senators have called on the administration of US President Joe Biden to sanction a Russian gas pipeline bound for Europe.

The chair of the Senate foreign relations committee and the chair of the panel’s subcommittee on Europe wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, urging him to stop Moscow before the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is completed.

“This pipeline must be stopped and your leadership is required towards that end,” Senators Bob Menendez and Jeanne Shaheen claimed.

Anti-Russian sentiments have been rising in Washington since Biden took over the White House.

Russia restarted construction of the politically delicate pipeline to Germany in December after the construction work on the $11.6 billion pipeline, which would bypass Poland and Ukraine, was put on a halt for a year over Washington’s threat of sanctions.

Berlin says it needs the gas as it is shutting coal and nuclear plants over environmental and safety concerns.

Moscow has vowed to complete the pipeline project, which is designed to take Russia's gas via the Baltic Sea to Germany.

SS