Page 11 - RusRPTJun21

The EU has taken the threats seriously and backed off imposing only symbolic sanctions on Russia for the poisoning and jailing of anti-corruption activist and opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
However, what Washington would do has been the subject of speculation. So far it has mirrored the EU symbolic sanctions over Navalny and pulled its punches with another round published on April 15 which targeted Russia’s domestic OFZ bonds for the first time, banning US investors from the primary auctions but not secondary market trading that are largely symbolic as they have no effect on investors in practical terms.
“We could have done more, but we didn't,” Biden said after the details of the sanctions were announced.
Common ground
Biden has said that Russia will be “made to pay” for its interference in US domestic politics, but at the same time he has signalled that he wants to “stabilise” the relation and certainly not keen to escalate, but will do so if he is forced by Kremlin aggression.
Notably on the eve of the Lavrov-Blinken meeting on May 19 a report was “leaked” that the US would not sanction the Swiss-registered but Russian-owned Nord Stream 2 AG operating company, chaired by Putin’s friend and German national Matthias Warnig, that is building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, thus more or less ensuring its completion this summer.
“I have determined that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, its CEO Matthias Warnig, and Nord Stream 2 AG’s corporate officers,” Blinken said in a statement accompanying the report.
An official at the US State Department confirmed that the company was being excluded from the regular sanctions report although subsidiaries and various ships remain on the list. The official also suggested that the Biden valued Washington’s relationship with Germany more than it felt the necessity to punish Russia.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas welcomed the news and pointed out that Germany’s desire to see the pipeline completed was the “one major point of contention” between Berlin and Washington.
However, the decision not to sanction the company ahead of the Lavrov-Blinken meeting will also usefully be taken as a strong positive signal by the Kremlin that the White House is willing to compromise. Apart from the symbolic sanctions related to Navalny and the OFZ bonds, the only other significant interaction between the Kremlin and the White House since Biden took over is to renew the key START III missile treaty – something else that both sides wanted. Both Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have said publically they are interested in cooperating on arms control deals, climate change and a raft of international problems like Syria, Libya, tensions in the Middle East and most recently the outbreak of violence in Gaza.
11 RUSSIA Country Report June 2021 www.intellinews.com