The U.S. and Europe unveiled a limited range of sanctions in response to Russia’s latest escalation over Ukraine, with Germany going the furthest by opting to halt the Nord Stream 2 pipeline’s certification process following President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops to two self-proclaimed separatist republics.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who held a call with Putin late on Monday, said that the Russian leader’s recognition of the breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine had materially changed the situation so that “no certification of the pipeline can happen right now.” Without it, he told reporters in Berlin, the gas pipeline from Russia to Germany “cannot go into operation.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki welcomed the decision, saying that the U.S. would follow up with its own measures later on Tuesday. Still, halting the pipeline looks like the most significant response of an initial wave of penalties that stopped short of more painful measures.
