Grenell, former U.S. ambassador to Germany, said he believes the Biden administration’s decision in May 2021 to waive sanctions on the company behind Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany and its chief executive, factored into Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.
“This is a terrible situation that has unfolded because Joe Biden is so weak and has messaged multiple times that he would make decisions and not think about the consequences,” he said.
“The Biden administration took sanctions off the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. The Nord Stream 2 Pipeline is the most influential project that the Russians have. The Trump administration had it sanctioned. It is not up and running.”
The project represents an $11 billion investment from Russia that, if certified, would carry 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Germany every year.
Last year, a State Department report sent to Congress concluded that Nord Stream 2 AG—the company behind the pipeline—and its CEO, Matthias Warnig, an ally of Putin, engaged in sanctionable activity. But Secretary of State Antony Blinken immediately waived those sanctions, saying that it was in the U.S. national interest.
The waivers had no specific end date, and could be rescinded by the secretary of state.
Biden on Feb. 23 moved to announce new sanctions Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers “in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.”
Russian officials “turn energy off and on whenever they want to create leverage,” said Grenell. “We already know that the Russians do this.”
“And so the largest economy in Europe, the Germans, should not be in a position of being able to be leveraged by the Russians. And they currently are with this Nord Stream 2 pipeline.”
“This is a failure of epic proportion,” Grenell continued.
“We wouldn’t be in this situation if Donald Trump were President, if we had a president who really thought about what was happening,” he added. “There are implications for your decisions. When you drop sanctions on the Nord Stream Two Pipeline, don’t be surprised that you’re empowering the Russians.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday that that the United States will not attempt to escalate the rhetoric against Russia in light of the apparent heightened nuclear threat.
“It is important to remember—even over the course of the last several months and years—when we had significant disagreements with Russia on several issues, the United States and Russia have long agreed that nuclear use will have devastating consequences,” she told reporters.
