The US is preparing new sanctions to block Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

The US is preparing new sanctions to block Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, Reuters reports citing three Trump Administration officials. Relying on existing mandates from Congress, the Administration would sanction the dozens of EU companies helping Russia to lay the pipeline under the Baltic Existing sanction have caused the $11.6 billion project to run one year and $1 billion over budget. Although a Gazprom vessel is to resume work in Danish waters on January 15, one US official said of the executive order sanctions: “Now we’re in the process of driving a stake through the project heart.”