"Many governments have imposed sanctions on Russia for its actions in Crimea in Ukraine. Not all of those sanctions, as I’ve been told and our experts have explained to me, have been fully enforced, so that is one thing that we can look for European countries to do more," Nauert said on Tuesday.
Nauert also said Europeans should reconsider their plans to participate in the Nord Stream 2 project.
"Nord Stream 2 is sneaking through many of these countries, and I think that’s the questions European countries have to ask themselves. Is Nord Stream 2 something that they want to continue with because it helps the Russian government and is that the kind of support that they want to provide the Russian government with continuing to back Nord Stream 2 at this time," Nauert said.
Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Gazprom and five European companies. It aims to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas annually to the EU across the Baltic Sea to Germany. The pipeline project has been welcomed by some countries in Europe and opposed by others, fearing that it might increase their dependence on Russian gas. The pipeline is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2019.
