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Republican Sen. Ted Cruz set a condition for confirming the person named by President Joe Biden as head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), pressuring the administration to impose tough sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas project.
The Senate Intelligence Committee this week backed William Burns, a former ambassador to Russia, by unanimous vote to run the CIA. Mr Burns has been confirmed by the Senate for five previous appointments over his 33-year career and is expected to be finally approved by the full Senate.
The condition set by the Texas senator relates to his pressure on the administration to impose sanctions on ships and companies that help Russian state-owned energy firm Gazprom build the $ 11 billion pipeline. The pipeline carries gas extracted under the Baltic Sea to Europe via Germany.
“I will lift the condition when the Biden administration fulfills its legal obligation to report and impose sanctions on ships and companies building the Putin pipeline,” Senator Cruz wrote on Twitter late Friday. After a one-year delay caused by sanctions, Gazprom is acting swiftly to complete the pipeline that analysts expect to be completed by September. A second ship, Academic Cherskiy, has joined the works near Denmark.
President Joe Biden believes the pipeline is a “bad deal for Europe,” the White House said. The pipeline will bypass Ukraine by depriving it of lucrative transit tariffs and could undermine its efforts against Russian aggression. “It’s hard to understand how delaying the confirmation of a CIA director who enjoys strong bipartisan support makes Americans safer,” said Biden’s transition spokesman Andrew Bates. “President Biden has made it clear that Nord Stream 2 is a bad idea and it’s Russia’s game,” he said.
U.S. lawmakers from both sides who oppose the project believe there are about 15 ships helping with the pipeline construction. But the State Department last month imposed sanctions on only one ship in a report to Congress required by the sanctions law. Forty Republican senators said in a letter to President Biden this week that sanctions against the Fortuna would not stop the pipeline, which since February had about 120km to leave Denmark and 30km from Germany.
On May 16, the State Department will present to Congress another report on the Nord Stream 2 project, which may contain more sanctions, although spokesman Ned Price said sanctions are only “one of many tools” that can be used. ./VOA
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