Joe Biden to allow US sanctions on Nord Stream 2 to move forward

Kyiv, Feb 23: The White House is expected to announce Wednesday that President Joe Biden is allowing sanctions to move forward against the company that built the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and against the company's CEO.

The announcement is expected to come later in the day, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter before the decision was made public and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Germany said Tuesday that it was indefinitely suspending the project, after Biden charged that Russia President Vladimir Putin had launched “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine” by sending troops into two separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.

The pipeline is completed but had not yet begun operating. Biden waived sanctions last year against the pipeline's builder and operator, Nord Stream 2 AG, when the project was almost completed, in return for an agreement from Germany to take action against Russia if it used gas as a weapon or attacked Ukraine.