Former Republican Senator Bruce Marks, in an interview with Izvestia on Friday, January 14, said that by rejecting in the Senate a bill on new sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Democrats expressed support for US President Joe Biden.
In addition, according to the politician, they did not allow the author of the initiative, Republican Ted Cruz, to “win”.
“Today’s vote was political among Democrats and Republicans. In fact, Democrats voted no because they supported President Joe Biden. That is, this decision does not so much reflect the position of the Senate on the issue of sanctions, but serves as support for Biden and an attempt to “pacify” Senator Cruz. In this case, the Democrats are more likely to wait for how relations between Russia and Ukraine will develop,” he explained.
According to Marx, the decision of the US Senate is not connected with the results of the past Russian-American talks on security guarantees. He once again reminded that the vote was politically motivated.
“There is no direct connection between the meeting in Geneva and this vote, as the vote just went according to the schedule of the Senate. That is, the events that took place in Geneva did not affect the results of the vote – it was a politically sound vote to prevent Cruz from winning, ”said the former senator.
The day before, the US Senate rejected a bill proposed by Republican Ted Cruz on sanctions against SP-2. Before the votes were counted, he was criticized by the Democrats and the initiative failed to gain the required 60 votes. According to the bill, sanctions were supposed to be imposed on Nord Stream 2 AG within 15 days after its adoption.
Also on January 13, the US administration opposed the bill. The White House noted that the Republican’s initiative is unlikely to help Ukraine. On the contrary, the sanctions project could undermine the “unity of European allies.”
The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was completed on September 10. It was built from Russia to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea for the purpose of direct gas supplies to Europe. The EU countries mainly support the project and participate in its implementation. The Baltic States, Poland, the United States and Ukraine are opposed. On December 16, Germany postponed the decision to certify the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline until at least mid-2022.
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