Who and how much got paid to protect Nord Stream 2 from sanctions – investigation data

Debate over Russia’s Nord Stream 2 oil pipeline has complicated efforts to pass the National Defense Authorization Act after millions of dollars have been spent on federal lobbying opposing sanctions on the Russian pipeline.

Nord Stream 2 AG took center stage in the Senate negotiations after a vote to end debate on the NDAA funding bill failed on Monday with a vote of 45-51, short of the 60 votes needed to move the legislation forward.

Senate Republicans voted to block the defense funding bill from advancing on Monday, arguing that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wasn’t giving them the chance to get votes on amendments, including a measure levying sanctions on Nord Stream 2.

The Russian oil pipeline would bypass Ukraine in Russian gas transit routes to Europe and is expected to double Russian gas exports to Germany. The move could potentially cost Ukrainian firms billions of dollars in transit revenue collected during the transfer of Russian natural gas and thereby weaken Ukraine’s strategic importance to the region.

The debate over sanctions comes as the Biden administration navigates Russian troops increasing their presence on the border of Ukraine and U.S. attempts to rebuild an alliance with Germany.

Foreign companies partnering on Nord Stream 2 spent more than $14.2 million since 2017 when Donald Trump become president and shortly after the pipeline’s construction kicked off. More than $7.4 million of that lobbying against sanctions and other issues related to the project came since the start of 2020 with $3 million of that spent in the first three quarters of 2021. 

Nord Stream 2, which is wholly-owned by Russia’s state-run energy firm Gazprom, spent nearly $2.5 million on lobbying in the first three quarters of 2021. Nord Stream CEO Matthias Warnig and Gazprom’s executive chair Alexei Miller are both known as close allies of Russian President Vladmir Putin. 

Nord Stream 2 has paid more than $4.5 million to Roberti Global, a lobbying firm run by Democratic donor and lobbyist Vincent Roberti. Roberti disclosed lobbying on “issues related to the U.S. position toward the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, including potential financial sanctions affecting the project.” 

Since the start of 2020, the pipeline company has paid about $1.3 million to BGR Group for lobbying by Walker Roberts, a former Republican staffer for foreign affairs congressional committees.

Five foreign companies partnering with Gazprom on the pipeline — Austria’s OMV AG, the Netherlands’ Shell International, France’s ENGIE, and Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper SE — hired lobbyists at McLarty Inbound to lobby the State Department and the National Security Council. They collectively paid the firm more than $840,000 for lobbying in 2020 and $600,000 in the first three quarters of 2021. 

Ukraine, which stands to lose the most power from the pipeline, has emerged as the strongest critic of the project. 

The Federation of Employers of the Oil and Gas Industry of Ukraine paid lobbying firm Yorktown Solutions $840,000 in 2020, according to FARA records, and renewed their contract through at least the end of 2021. 

The Ukrainian oil and gas trade association disclosed lobbying congressional staffers on the “risks posed” by “diversionary gas pipeline projects.”

Yorktown Solutions is run by Daniel Vajdich, a lobbyist and former adviser to Cruz. In March, Cruz tweeted that he would hold up nomination proceedings for Deputy Secretary of State nominee Wendy Sherman and other State Department nominees until sanctions are imposed, as first reported by Foreign Lobby Report.

Sanctions are not the only potential impediment to the pipeline, which was physically completed in September, but needs certification by German regulators before it can be operational.

In November, Germany’s network regulator suspended the process due to a German law preventing certification because Nord Stream 2 AG, which is owned by Gazprom, is incorporated as a  Swiss company. The company is now in the process of establishing a German affiliate. 

The NDAA isn’t the only piece of legislation Congress has pushed off. 

Government funding expires at midnight on Dec. 3, and House and Senate leaders are attempting to send a funding bill to Biden’s desk before the end of the year. 

Source: Opensecrets

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