Biden's Russia agenda questioned over European gaas pipeline plans
After years WASHINGTON — of Democratic accusations that former President Donald Trump was too soft on Russia, the Biden administration is facing Republican criticism of its approach to Moscow.
In particular, Republicans accuse him of not doing enough to halt a gas pipeline to Europe that many believe will give Russia a tool for political influence over energy-dependent Central and East European nations. To make their point, they’ve delayed confirmation of some of Biden’s top national secu- rity nominees, including for the CIA and top spots at the State Department.
And, they’re planning to grill Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the matter when he testifies before Congress today.
Although Biden has imposed sanctions on some
Russians over the poisoning and imprisonment of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, crit- ics say those are largely redundant measures. And, they have become increasingly vocal over Biden’s response to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has not yet included any steps beyond what the Trump administration took
in its waning months in office.
“We are deeply concerned that the administration’s strong statements in oppo- sition to the pipeline are not being matched by equally strong actions,” in a letter to Blinken signed by four top GOP member of the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Michael McCaul.
On the Senate side, Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton have all weighed in with similar concerns.
Cruz has slapped a hold on Biden’s nominee for CIA director, former career dip- lomat William Burns, over the matter, and is threatening similar holds on nominations of Wendy Sherman and
Brian McKeon to be deputy secretaries of state.
While Trump was enamored of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he opposed the pipeline and criticized Germany for supporting the project.
Like the Trump adminis- tration before it, the Biden administration believes the pipeline will harm European energy security, particularly for countries in Eastern and Central Europe like Ukraine and Poland, which the pipe- line bypasses. U.S. officials have long said they fear Russia will use the pipeline as a polit- ical tool against its neighbors.