BREAKING NEWS: Biden now SANCTIONS Nord Stream 2’s corporate officers after shutting the gas pipeline down and warns he ‘won’t hesitate’ to target more of Putin and his inner circle if he ‘continues to escalate’

• President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced he was sanctioning the company building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline 
• Germany halted certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline on Tuesday, which would have doubled the Russian gas going to Germany 
• ‘Today, I have directed my administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers,’ the president said in a statement 
• He said the new sanctions were part of the initial tranche to respond to Russia’s incursion into Ukraine 
• The president also warned, ‘we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate’  

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced he was sanctioning the company building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which Germany halted certification of Tuesday – a coordinated response to Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.

‘Today, I have directed my administration to impose sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG and its corporate officers,’ the president said in a statement. ‘These steps are another piece of our initial tranche of sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.’ 

The president also warned, ‘we will not hesitate to take further steps if Russia continues to escalate.’  

President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced he was sanctioning the company building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which Germany halted certification of Tuesday

Nord Stream 2 was completed in September and would have doubled the amount of Russian gas going into Germany 

The State Department’s spokesman Ned Price said Wednesday afternoon that Nord Stream 2 was ‘an $11 billion prize investment that is now a hunk of steel, sitting at the bottom of the sea.’ 

When the new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the White House earlier this month, Biden said at a joint press event that they were in lockstep about the pipeline as Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Ukraine with a military build-up. 

Scholz, however, wouldn’t say Nord Stream 2 by name. 

This week as Putin declared separatist territories in eastern Ukraine ‘independent’ and brought in ‘peacekeeping’ forces, the United States and its European allies have started sanctioning Russia.  

On Tuesday, Scholz announced that Germany wouldn’t certify the pipeline.

Construction was finished on Nord Stream 2 in September.  

The company Nord Stream 2 AG is registered in Switzerland, but its parent company is the Russian state-owned gas firm Gazprom. 

Nord Stream 2 would have doubled the amount of Russian gas going into Germany.  

‘Through his actions, President Putin has provided the world with an overwhelming incentive to move away from Russian gas and to other forms of energy,’ Biden said in the statement.   

‘I want to thank Chancellor Scholz for his close partnership and continued dedication to holding Russia accountable for its actions,’ the president also said.   

Biden received rare praise from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz for his initial step of rescinding sanction waivers that had been applied to the project. 

‘President Biden made the right decision today,’ the Texas Republican said in a statement. 

Cruz called on Biden to ‘lock in sanctions,’ which Biden did later Wednesday afternoon. 

For Biden’s actions, Cruz announced he would be unblocking the Biden administration’s State Department nominees he was holding up in the Senate. 

Biden received rare praise from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz for his initial step of rescinding sanction waivers

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