Ukraine: Russia issued warning by US as hostilities intensify
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The new administration in Washington warned it is “determined to use all available levers to prevent the completion of Nord Stream 2” according to a spokesperson for Mr Biden. On Monday the US said it was not going to compromise on its determination to stop Germany from getting involved in the natural gas pipeline from Russia to the heart of the EU. Germany had hoped the new Biden administration would be more favourable than the Trump government was towards the pipeline project.
Nord Stream 2 pipes from Russian natural gas fields to Europe are now close to 95 percent complete.
However, the US said this project threatens the EU’s energy security and that it could be used as leverage by Moscow in the future.
Referring to the controversial pipeline project, US Embassy Berlin spokesperson Joseph Giordono-Scholz said: “It is a geopolitical project by Russia that threatens Europe’s energy security.
“It also threatens that of Ukraine and the Eastern NATO partners.”
Mr Giordono-Scholz said this view is “shared by some of our European partners and even by some serious voices in Germany”.
He added: “We will continue to register any organization that may be involved in any sanctioned activity.
“We have made it clear that any company risks being penalised for participating in Nord Stream 2.”
Lead US policy official on Europe and NATO Jim Townsend has pointed to the tour of European capitals being currently conducted by the Biden administration’s defence secretary Lloyd Austin as an attempt to heal the divisions between the EU and America caused by the Trump regime.
Mr Townsend said Mr Austin’s tour was “a better way to repair the torn fabric of that trans-Atlantic relationship”.
At present, the EU views the US-led military alliance NATO as a bulwark against Russia.
However, there have been questions raised over German chancellor Angela Merkel’s warming relations with Moscow over the Node Stream 2 pipeline.
Russia has by far the largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and Moscow hope to gain both political power and financial profit from these reserves.
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The pipeline was originally scheduled for completion by the end of 2019.
However, US sanctions aimed at companies working with Moscow have caused major delays for the project.
In January, the US sanctioned the Russian pipe-laying ship Fortuna.
And Mr Biden has warned further actions against firms in the project.
One of many aspects of the project that have recently become targets of renewed US sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow’s ongoing dispute with Ukraine.
Russia currently occupies the Crimean Peninsula, which both Washington and Kiev have protested against.
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