The U.S. Senate has approved a defense bill that will see sanctions imposed on companies working on Russia's massive flagship gas pipeline project to Germany — but the sanctions might not have much effect given that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is almost complete.
, formally known as the National Defense Authorization Act , on Tuesday. The NDAA covers a broad range of defense policy and military spending.
Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has joined Russian criticism of the sanctions, saying last week that "European energy policy must be decided in Europe, not the U.S." while Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that "I assure you that neither Nord Stream 2 nor TurkStream will stop" because of U.S. sanctions.The U.S. sanctions would not have mattered at all if Nord Stream 2 had been completed on time.
But the delay caused by Denmark's procrastination means that U.S. sanctions, if targeted quickly, could impact several specialist companies involved in pipe-laying for the project — although there is not much of the route left to complete. The NS2 pipeline is particularly controversial for the U.S. which see it as a way for Russia to increase its energy dominance in Europe, a region the U.S. wants to increase its own liquefied natural gas exports to. Ostensibly, however, the U.S. says that sanctions aimed at the Russian-led pipelines is to protect Europe's energy security.toward Nord Stream 2 saying it "poses a grave threat to the national security of the United States and our European allies.
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