US senators reject bill on sanctions against Nord Stream 2

WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (PRIME) -- The U.S. senators late on Thursday rejected a bill drafted by Senator Ted Cruz that included sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline as it failed to receive support from at least 60 senators.

The bill would have obliged the U.S. president to slap sanctions on any executive of a firm created to plan, construct, or exploit the pipeline, as well as on the executives of a company responsible for the acts and against the companies. Cruz wanted to abolish suspension of the U.S. restrictions on project operator Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO Mattias Warnig.

The sanctions were supposed to freeze their assets in the U.S. jurisdiction and ban entry to the U.S.

Cruz made the U.S. Senate vote on the bill as he threatened that he would block approval of U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominees for positions in the administration. He wanted the bill to be included into the country’s defense budget for 2022, but the final edition of the budget did not hold his amendments.

The 55 billion cubic meter Nord Stream 2 pipeline was built in September 2021. Both strings were filled with technical gas and the pipeline is ready for operation. Its certification by the German Federal Network Agency was halted in November because the regulator deemed it necessary for the operator to create a subsidiary in Germany and reapply for certification as an operator on its behalf as required by the European law.

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