U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and Chair of the Europe and Regional Security Cooperation SFRC Subcommittee, issued the following statement in response to the Biden administration’s report on implementation of Nord Stream II-related legislation that Shaheen co-authored. The legislation was designed to halt construction of the pipeline in order to preserve Europe’s energy independence and prevent Vladimir Putin from spreading the Kremlin’s malign influence throughout the region.

“The prevention of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline’s completion has been a bipartisan priority in Congress, and yesterday the Biden administration took additional steps toward that goal. The legislation I wrote to keep the Kremlin’s malign influence at bay has laid the groundwork for effective action to stop the pipeline without unnecessarily harming transatlantic relations,” said Senator Shaheen. “The United States and Germany must work together to ensure that the Kremlin cannot gain additional leverage against our allies in Europe. I am encouraged to see new potential sanctions designations, but I look forward to being briefed by the Biden administration on additional steps they can take to stop the threat posed by the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. I was also pleased to see the number of companies which have wound down their involvement in the pipeline project as a result of this bipartisan legislation. The completion of the Nord Steam 2 pipeline continues to threaten the security of our larger transatlantic community, and we must use the time bought through the sanctions legislation to work together and ensure Russia can’t hold hostage energy supplies for our allies.”

Building on her bipartisan bill included in the fiscal year (FY) 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that mandated targeted sanctions on vessels involved in installing Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Senator Shaheen added a provision that further clarifies those sanctions in the NDAA that became law in January, which targets companies working with the Russian vessels sent to complete the pipeline. The Senator’s previous bipartisan effort led to a freeze in the construction of the pipeline, which, if completed, would increase the Kremlin’s leverage and ability to sow discord in Europe and damage the Ukrainian economy by impeding its ability to collect gas transit fees.

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