Washington, February 23: The White House is expected to announce Wednesday that President Joe Biden is allowing sanctions to move forward against the company that built the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and against the company’s CEO.
The announcement is expected to come later in the day, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter before the decision was made public and who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The pipeline is completed but had not yet begun operating.
Biden waived sanctions last year against the pipeline’s builder and operator, Nord Stream 2 AG, when the project was almost completed, in return for an agreement from Germany to take action against Russia if it used gas as a weapon or attacked Ukraine.
Germany said Tuesday that it was indefinitely suspending the project after Biden charged that Russia President Vladimir Putin had launched “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine” by sending troops into two separatist regions of eastern Ukraine.
Russia began evacuating its embassy in Kyiv, and Ukraine urged its citizens to leave Russia on Wednesday as the region braced for further confrontation after President Vladimir Putin received authorization to use military force outside his country and the West responded with sanctions.
Hopes for a diplomatic way out of a new, potentially devastating war in Europe appeared all but sunk as the U.S. and key European allies accused Moscow of crossing a red line Tuesday in rolling over Ukraine’s border into separatist regions in Ukraine’s east called Donbas, with some calling it an invasion.
Russia emptied its diplomatic posts in Ukraine, state news agency Tass reported, a day after the Foreign Ministry announced a plan to evacuate, citing threats. By Wednesday afternoon, the Russian flag no longer flew over the Kyiv embassy, and police surrounded the building.
After weeks of trying to project calm, Ukrainian authorities signaled increasing concern. The Foreign Ministry advised against travel to Russia and recommended anyone there leave immediately, saying Moscow’s “aggression” could lead to a significant reduction in consular services.
Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council chief Oleksiy Danilov called for a national state of emergency, subject to parliamentary approval. He said it will be up to regional authorities to determine which measures to apply, but they could include additional security at public facilities, traffic restrictions and additional transport and document checks.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, added that “we still cannot confirm that Russian forces have moved into the Donbas area.”
The official said the U.S. has indications based on intelligence as well as visual evidence that the Russian forces “have advanced their readiness to a point where they are literally ready to go now, if they get the order to go.”
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