Washington intends to use Nord Stream 2 as a means of pressure on Moscow

After the “Nord Stream 2” gas pipeline between Russia and Germany remained a source of contention with the United States for a long time, before President Joe Biden finally accepted it, he returned to present it strongly as a “pressure tool” in the hands of Washington to deter Moscow about the invasion of Ukraine.

The White House didn’t explicitly announce that Biden made this threat Tuesday during his video summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but his National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stressed during a press conference that this issue is an “absolute priority”.

Sullivan pointed out that the pipeline has not yet been put into service pending approval by the German side, and therefore cannot be “a means of pressure in the hands of Putin.”

“It is leverage for the West, because if Vladimir Putin wants to transport gas via Nord Stream 2, he may not take the risk of invading Ukraine,” he added.

Since last week, the US administration has issued warnings to Russia, amid accusations of mobilizing Russian forces again on the border with Ukraine, waving severe economic sanctions in the event of an attack on the neighboring country.

And to prove that he is more determined than in 2014, when Moscow annexed the Ukrainian Crimea, Biden asserts that this time he will impose unprecedented sanctions “which he refrained from using in the past” because of “the consequences that would have come from it in Russia”.

There are speculations about Washington’s excluding Russia from the SWIFT system, a basic system in global finance that allows electronic transfers between banks.

However, no US official has confirmed this hypothesis, which is often described as a “nuclear option” because of the consequences that it may have on the Russian economy, but also on the world, and believes in any case that it remains the last option before the United States.

“SWIFT would be a dangerous escalation,” William Taylor, vice president for studies at the United States Institute for Peace, told AFP.

Taylor, who was in the past an ambassador in Kiev, considered that “Nord Stream 2 is a serious option” and is “one of the most important measures” currently under consideration because it allows the Biden administration to demonstrate great firmness without going to the extent of provoking an economic earthquake.

The pipeline has long been a source of tension in relations between Washington and Berlin.

The United States strongly opposes Nord Stream 2, which links Russia with Germany through the Baltic Sea without passing through Ukraine, which threatens to deprive this country of part of the income it derives from the passage of gas through its territory, but also of a means of pressure on Russia.

Despite the opposition of the American political class to the project, no US administration did not risk reaching the point of confrontation with Germany, the main ally of the United States.

The limited sanctions imposed so far have not prevented the completion of the project.

As it became certain that the construction work would be completed, Biden decided to close the dispute file with the Germans, and signed with them in July an agreement that is now in the forefront on the international scene.

The agreement stipulated that if Russia committed “aggressive acts against Ukraine”, Germany would take measures “to limit Russia’s export capabilities to Europe in the energy sector”.

Today, US diplomacy is based on this settlement, which was not highlighted when it was concluded.

The third official in the US State Department, Victoria Nuland, warned the Senate on Tuesday that “if President Putin does not change his position on Ukraine, we look forward to suspending this gas pipeline”.

William Taylor saw this as a powerful weapon “because it is a long-term project” for the Kremlin.

“The reason Putin sticks to it so tightly… is that it will allow him to open and close” the flow of gas to Europe, allowing him to “influence European decisions,” he explained.

He stressed that the US threat “will receive his full attention”.

But it is necessary to know whether Germany, which has so far adhered to Nord Stream 2, is ready to respond to the Americans at a time when power is shifting from conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel to her Social Democratic successor, Olaf Scholz.

“Germans are divided on this,” said William Taylor, noting that the new government’s foreign minister, Annalena Birbock, an environmentalist was more opposed to the gas pipeline.