While the world has been preoccupied with the global coronavirus pandemic and the ravaged economies it has left in its wake, Russia has actively sought to use the crisis as a distraction to circumvent U.S. sanctions. These include those announced in December that halted the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea. Russia is reeling from its outsized dependence on fossil fuel earnings and has taken a significant financial hit. Putin will not give up on his pipeline project now, and the United States must not let him complete it.
OP-ED
Anders Aslund, Debra Cagan: Don’t let Putin’s pipe dreams become reality
A policeman walks across the construction site for the European Gas Pipeline Link (EUGAL) pipeline in Wrangelsburg, northeastern Germany, where environmental activists staged a protest titled "Clog Nord Stream 2!" on May 16, 2019.
