German Lawmaker Says Biden's Decision to Ease Nord Stream 2 Sanctions Not Sign of Weakness

BERLIN (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden's decision to waive sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 AG entity that is in charge of the pipeline project shows his "rationality, not weakness," Klaus Ernst, the head of the German parliamentary committee on economy and energy, told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"If the US president truly decided to abandon ... the US sanctions policy against Nord Stream 2, which violates international law, then I very much welcome it. The very idea of ​​imposing sanctions on the managing director of a company that has nothing to do with the United States, which is building a completely legal pipeline — it is difficult to imagine something more impudent. If Joe Biden rejects this idea, this means that he is showing rationality, not weakness," Ernst said, slamming the US sanctions policy as inadmissible.

During a recent phone conversation, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed a range of issues, including Russia and Europe's energy policy. Following their conversation, the US Department of State said that Blinken expressed Washington's opposition to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. 

The statement followed Axios reports, citing sources, that US President Joe Biden's administration would waive sanctions against the corporate entity and the top executive managing the construction of the pipeline, using US national interests as justification.