The Biden administration made international headlines on May 19 when it announced that it would be waiving sanctions against Nord Stream 2 AG, the company responsible for the controversial Russian pipeline from St. Petersburg to Germany, and its CEO, Matthias Warnig, a former Stasi officer and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Opposition to the project is one of the few issues that maintains serious bipartisan support in Congress, making the choice to waive sanctions a potential challenge for the White House. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) greeted the announcement with a statement calling for the administration to “rip off the Band-Aid, lift these waivers, and move forward with the congressionally mandated sanctions.”
