Congress is poised to impose sanctions on the Nord Stream II gas pipeline project, a project long opposed by Ukraine, Poland, the Trump (and before that Obama) administration, the previous European Parliament, many inside the former European Commission (albeit quietly), and even many Germans. Congress’s opposition to Nord Stream II is well-founded. Yet enacting the sanctions mandated by the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act (PEES Act), for all its careful crafting, may not actually block Nord Stream II but may instead burden the US-German relationship. Rather than impose sanctions, the administration should waive them for now but prepare even stronger contingency sanctions to be implemented should the Kremlin once again use gas exports as political leverage against Ukraine, Central Europe, or the Baltics.
OP-ED
Daniel Fried: Russia gas pipeline sanctions legislation – a way ahead
A man works at the construction site of the so-called Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Lubmin, northeastern Germany, on March 26, 2019.
