Reuters reports.

On January 10, Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland and Biden's global energy security adviser Amos Hochstein met behind closed doors with about ten Democratic senators who have been undecided on the Cruz bill.

The Senate is expected to vote on the bill this week, as part of an agreement reached last month under which Cruz released his hold on dozens of ambassador nominations. The bill should get 60 votes. The bill would also have to pass the House of Representatives and be signed by Biden.

Several senators told reporters that administration officials were convincing. Senator Chris Murphy said they argued that Cruz's bill could harm relations with Germany's new government at a time when Washington needs its support to pressure Russia against an invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: US Senators Predict Fast Sanctions Against Nord Stream 2

"The Cruz amendment would make a Russian invasion more likely. There is no sense to be sanctioning the new German government when they have just switched their position to finally put the pipeline on ice", - he said.

Senator Dick Durbin said legislation drafted by another Democratic senator Robert Menendez is preferable and sends a "strong message to Putin." But he does not know when a vote on Menendez's legislation will take place.

Senator Tim Kaine has assured that if there is an alternative to the Cruz bill, he would like to compare them.

Senator Jon Tester did not say whether he would vote against the Cruz bill but said the Biden officials had expressed a "very salient" point about needing Germany's support against Russia's reinvasion of Ukraine.

Read also: Russia faces sanctions if it forcibly redraws the map of Europe - Finnish Foreign Ministry

What is known

• In December last year, US President Joe Biden signed a defence budget for 2022, but new sanctions against the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline were dropped.
• The United States is pushing the European Union to agree on a new package of sanctions against Russia as soon as possible in the event of a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Vice-Chancellor, Minister of Economy and Energy in the new German government Robert Habeck said that North Stream-2 is a geopolitical mistake. He also said that there was pressure from the previous government to put the pipeline into operation.
• On October 18, it became known that the first line of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline has already been filled with technical gas, and the commissioning of the second line is underway.
• Gazprom said that as of the morning of September 10, the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline was fully completed.

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