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The U.S. is maintaining the pressure on Germany over a new gas link to Russia, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline runs counter to the interests of the European Union.
“It’s in contradiction to the EU’s own energy security goals,” Blinken told reporters in Brussels, ahead of a meeting with North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers. “President Biden has been very clear in saying that he believes the pipeline is a bad idea, bad for Europe, bad for the United States.”
On his first visit to Europe since taking office, Blinken said that he would be meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass on Tuesday to talk about the 764-mile (1,230-kilometer) pipeline. The U.S. is weighing additional sanctions to block construction of the nearly completed connection, potentially including the project’s parent company Nord Stream 2 AG, according to three people familiar with the matter.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been a supporter of the project, but has come under increased pressure to abandon it, both externally and domestically ahead of elections later this year.
Relations between the U.S. and Russia have taken a turn for the worse over the past week, after President Joe Biden said he thinks that Russian Premier Vladimir Putin is a “killer.” Both the U.S. and the EU have sanctioned Russian officials over the poisoning of opposition leader Alexey Navalny in the past month.
“I’m sure I’ll have an opportunity to reiterate that, including the law in the United States which requires us to sanction companies participating in the efforts to complete the pipeline,” Blinken said.
