An Associated Press reporter criticized State Department spokesman Ned Price on Monday for suggesting that President Joe Biden was responsible for a policy initiated during the Trump administration.
Price, highlighting a report sent to Congress, said that about 18 entities have engaged in “good faith efforts” to reduce their involvement in Nord Stream 2, a controversial $ 11 billion pipeline project designed to transmit Russian natural gas to the Germany.
State Department spokesman Ned Price speaks to reporters during a press conference at the State Department on Wednesday, February 17, 2021, in Washington.
(Kevin Lamarque / Pool via AP)
Critics of the Kremlin said the project would double the amount of natural gas imported from Russia. If completed, it would leave Europe more dependent on Russian energy than ever. The poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has revitalized calls for the project to be abandoned.
At Monday’s press conference, Price seemed to suggest the efforts of the Biden government. The fact that the aforementioned entities have ended their activities on the pipeline project, said Price, demonstrates that Biden and Congress’ strategy “has worked well.”
Associated Press reporter Matt Lee interrupted, telling Price that all of this work had started under the Trump administration.
“You have only been in office for a month, right? You are telling me that in the past four weeks these 18 companies have suddenly decided to say, ‘My God! We better do nothing with Nord Stream 2,” Lee said. “You are taking credit for things that the previous administration did. Yes or no?”
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Price, visibly distraught, said he was only speaking on behalf of the State Department – occupied by the same people since before Biden took office.
The heated exchange came after the Biden government on Friday added a layer of sanctions to a Russian ship and the shipowner for their work on the pipeline project.
Republican lawmakers criticized the move as inappropriate, noting that the government did not penalize any additional companies or individuals for working on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. They also said the new sanctions were redundant as they doubled the existing penalties that the Trump administration imposed on the Fortuna ship. and its owner KVT-RUS in January.
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The sanctions were announced in a report presented to Congress by the State Department on Friday night, three days after the February 16 delivery deadline.