The Biden government told Congress on Friday that it would impose sanctions on a Russian ship and company that helped complete a Russian gas pipeline, but Republican lawmakers said the move fell far short of what was needed to stop the Moscow project.
In a report to Congress, the State Department identified the Russian ship Fortuna and its company, KVT-RUS, to be designated for sanctions under a law passed in January designed to prevent the completion of the Russia-Germany gas pipeline known as Nord Stream 2.
Both entities had already been sanctioned by the former Trump administration, and lawmakers sent a long list of companies to the government that they said carried out jobs or services that were supposed to trigger sanctions in the United States.
None of these companies were mentioned in the State Department’s report to Congress, which arrived three days after Tuesday’s deadline.
The State Department report will be welcomed in Germany, which has lobbied against sanctions and defended the pipeline as a valuable commercial project that will provide a stable and cheap energy supply.
But the report is likely to disappoint the governments of Central and Eastern Europe, which are strongly opposed to the project, arguing that it could give Russia an economic advantage over Europe and make them more vulnerable to pressure from Moscow. Nord Stream 2 would deprive Ukraine of lucrative gas transit fees, which generate crucial revenues for the government.
“Whoever is preventing these sanctions from being fully imposed is now doing Vladimir Putin a favor. From the perspective of Ukraine, we simply cannot imagine that this is what President Biden wants, ”said Vadym Glamazdin, a senior official at the Ukrainian state-owned energy company Naftogaz.
The report was released at a time when President Joe Biden delivered a speech virtually at the Munich security conference, at which he promised to show determination against Russia and strengthen the transatlantic alliance.
A bipartisan majority in Congress passed legislation in January, nullifying former President Donald Trump’s veto, which imposed additional sanctions on any company that would allow the Nord Stream 2 project to be completed, including companies that insure or certify the pipeline.
Representative Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, graduated as a Republican from the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the government of failing to comply with the will of Congress.
“Simply put, today’s sanction assignments are totally inadequate,” McCaul said in a statement, adding that “Congress’ intention is clear and cannot be ignored.”
“Sanctioning only the Russian tube-laying vessel Fortuna and its owner, KVT-RUS – both already sanctioned by the previous government under different authorities – does not meet that intention,” said McCaul.
Senator Jim Risch, R-Idaho, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, found the State Department report worrying and misleading.
“We know that construction of an oil pipeline is underway in the Baltic Sea. The maritime tracking information makes it clear that ships not included in today’s report are currently active in supporting the construction of Nord Stream 2, ”said Risch.
“The government’s decision to ignore these activities requires an immediate explanation.”
Early Friday, before the report was presented to Congress, State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated that the government was opposed to the pipeline and was consulting its European allies on the matter.
“We made it clear for some time that Nord Stream 2 is bad business and that companies are at risk of being penalized if they are involved. But, as we said, we do not foresee any potential sanctions. We will continue to work with our allies and partners to ensure that Europe has a diversified and reliable energy supply network that does not undermine our collective security, ”said Price.
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment on why it chose not to designate German companies or other Western companies that opponents say were involved in the project.
