Members of Ukraine’s civil society have penned the following letter to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin and Ranking Member Jim Risch calling for the extension of United States sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline:
Dear Chairman Cardin and Ranking Member Risch,
We, Ukrainian civil society leaders, write to you as chairman and ranking member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, longtime friends of Ukraine, and staunch advocates for anti-corruption and global human rights, to ask that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee support the extension of congressional sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. To ensure that these sanctions and the authority upon which they are based do not expire at the end of this year, we urge you to approve the renewal of the Protecting Europe’s Energy Security Act (PEESA) as part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conference.
Failure to extend the PEESA sanctions would allow commercial actors to cooperate with the Kremlin to one day restart the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. This pipeline, which was constructed by Moscow for the sole purpose of bypassing Ukraine and leaving it susceptible to Russian aggression, would reestablish the continent’s dependence on Russian gas, revive mechanisms for Russian corruption to be funneled into Europe, and hand back to Putin the capacity to blackmail Europe over its support for Ukraine.
Restarting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would also hamper Ukraine’s vibrant civil society and demoralize Ukraine’s citizens. This would further Putin’s broader goal of erasing Ukrainian sovereignty.
Recognizing the consequences of failing to renew the PEESA sanctions, the leaders of the US Senate Banking and the US Senate Armed Services committees have reportedly agreed to the inclusion of a PEESA extension in NDAA. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee remains the sole committee of jurisdiction standing in the way of extending these critical sanctions against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
We, the signatories of this letter, are fighting for Ukraine’s democracy and reform. As allies of civil society and anti-corruption crusaders, we urge you today to stand with us, as you have throughout your storied careers, and support the extension of the PEESA sanctions as part of this year’s NDAA conference, thereby making it impossible for Russia to restart its Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Sincerely,
Hanna Hopko, ANTS Network
Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Centre for Defence Strategies
Mykhaylo Gonchar, Center for Global Studies
Olga Aivazovska, Civil Network OPORA
Maksym Skrypchenko, Transatlantic Dialogue Center
Daria Kaleniuk, Anticorruption Action Center
Olena Tregub, Independent Anti-Corruption Commission NAKO
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Image: Unused pipes for the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany lie on the site of the Port of Mukran in the municipality of Sassnitz. The German government has purchased the unburied pipes of the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline for the Rügen LNG terminal. The companies Regas and Gascade are planning a terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the port of Mukran on the island of Rügen. ( Stefan Sauer/dpa via Reuters Connect)