The Biden administration is signaling readiness to discuss the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, and to provide Germany with a sanctions waiver if certain conditions are met, Handelsblatt reported, citing a US official said to be involved in the talks.
“The Germans have to put a package solution on the table,” the official told the German newspaper. “Otherwise we won’t be able to get the Nord Stream 2 issue out of the way.”
According to Handelsblatt, Washington’s demands include preventing Europe from becoming overly dependent on Russian gas, and stopping its client state Ukraine from being decoupled from European gas infrastructure.
The newspaper says the US is interested in a pipeline ‘shutdown mechanism’ in the event that Russia reduces gas deliveries through Ukraine, thus depriving Kiev of billions of dollars in much-needed transit fees for its cash-strapped economy.
Russia has used the already-existing Nord Stream infrastructure to guarantee the delivery of energy supplies to Central and Western Europe following years of gas disputes with Ukraine and other transit states. Unlike the land-based pipelines built during the Soviet period, which channel gas to the West through Eastern Europe, Nord Stream delivers gas straight Germany through pipelines along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, thus preventing transit states from turning off the taps in the event of a gas price dispute or foreign policy row with Moscow.
Source: Sputnik
