Seeking Alpha
Nord Stream 2’s completion a ‘fait accompli,’ Blinken tells House panel
Jun. 07, 2021 2:25 PM ETBASFY, ENGIY…By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken called completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline a “fait accompli” in testimony today before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and said the U.S. is working with Germany to mitigate the damage it will cause to Europe’s energy system.
- Sanctioning the top executive of the project’s parent company would have led to worse U.S.-German relations, Blinken said, and now Germany has expressed a desire to prevent Russian President Putin from using Nord Stream 2 as leverage to weaken European nations by increasing dependency on Russia.
- “We have an opportunity to make something positive out of a bad hand that we inherited when we came into office,” Blinken said.
- The Gazprom-led (OTCPK:OGZPY) project also includes Western partners Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), BASF’s (OTCQX:BASFY) Wintershall, Uniper (OTC:UNPPY), OMV (OTCPK:OMVJF) and Engie (OTCPK:ENGIY).
- Putin said last week that the pipelaying of the first line of the pipeline from Russia to Germany had been completed.