According to two sources familiar with the bilateral agreement on Wednesday (July 21), if Russia uses the Beixi 2 natural gas pipeline to damage Ukraine or other Eastern European countries, the United States and Germany will take action against Russia.
The agreement was finalized by senior US and German officials in recent months and was first reported by Reuters on Tuesday. It will resolve a long-standing dispute. The pipeline cost 11 billion U.S. dollars and is 98% complete. The pipeline is built under the Baltic Sea. , Used to transport natural gas. The Arctic region of Russia to Germany.
US officials insist that they continue to oppose the pipeline, but said the US-German agreement will reduce the possibility that Russia will use energy as a weapon against Ukraine and other countries in the region.
The United States is worried that Russia may cut off its energy supply to Ukraine or other countries in the form of aggression, and it is also worried that Ukraine will miss the transit fees of existing land-based pipelines to transport natural gas.
For now, the agreement will avoid restoring the sanctions authorized by Congress against Nord Stream 2 AG and its CEO. President Joe Biden waived these sanctions in May to allow time for the two parties to negotiate a way forward.
But one of the sources said that the Biden administration reserves the right to impose sanctions on a case-by-case basis in accordance with U.S. laws.
One of the sources said that Germany also agreed to donate to a new $1 billion fund to help Ukraine transition to cleaner energy sources and improve its energy security.
One of the sources said that the details of the funds could not be obtained immediately, but the funds may come from private sources and are guaranteed by the government.
Bloomberg News earlier reported that Germany will provide an initial investment of US$175 million.
Biden and German Chancellor Merkel failed to reach an agreement on the pipeline when they met last week, but said they agreed not to allow Moscow to use energy as a weapon against neighboring countries.
At the time, Merkel stated that if needed, Germany could use a variety of means to deal with Russia, including the possibility of imposing sanctions through the European Union.
‘GGeopolitical Project”
In recent days, officials of the two countries have continued to work out the details. A senior State Department official Derek Cholet visited Ukraine on Tuesday to discuss the deal.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the US State Department, told reporters on Tuesday that Washington still believes that the pipeline is a bad deal for Germany and Europe, but believes that sanctions are unlikely to prevent the project. The use of energy as a weapon.
“We continue to oppose the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. We see it as a geopolitical project of the Kremlin, aimed at expanding Russia’s influence on European energy resources and bypassing Ukraine.”
Price declined to respond to the reported agreement, but stated that Germany “made useful suggestions” and that they have made progress on the common goal of ensuring that “Russia cannot weaponize energy flows.”
Biden faces pressure from Congress to block this pipeline.
Senator James Risch, the top Republican of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement: “No matter what foreign policy results the government believes it has achieved, the government still has not imposed mandatory sanctions,” he said. This is the current law in the United States. .
