WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2019) The United States has about two months left to use sanctions or pass legislation to block Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Senator Ted Cruz said during a State Department official's nomination hearing.
"Our window for getting this done is rapidly shrinking. Our window for getting this done - the current projections are the pipeline will be completed by January, which means we have maybe two months to get this done," Cruz said on Wednesday during the nomination hearings for aspiring Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun. "If Congress passes the legislation or the Administration simply uses its existing authority under CAATSA... Nord Sea 2 will stop in its tracks."
Speaking at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting, he charted two possible ways to stop the trans-Baltic route for gas exports to Europe - either by legislation or through Administration's decision to use the CAATSA mechanism of sanctions, targeting crucial deep water technologies needed for completing the project.
The Senator added the bipartisan legislation had already been approved by Senate's Foreign Relations Committee and was up for voting at the Senate and the House of Representatives. He said that simultaneously the US Administration was already debating whether to use CAATSA sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 and asked Biegun to intercede for it. \
"The administration with a flip of the switch can stop this pipeline," Cruz said.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 2 may be launched before the New Year already. The twin pipeline will carry 110 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Germany when it reaches its full capacity.
