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The Biden administration waived sanctions on the company behind Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany and its chief executive, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on May 19, a move decried by critics of the project in Congress.

The US State Department expressed its strong opposition to the Turkish-Russian TurkStream gas pipeline saying that together with the Nord Stream 2 they undermine the European energy security and serve only the Russian interests.

US sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline are blatant protectionism aimed at advancing its liquefied natural gas on the European market, but the EU countries understand this and support the project, and thanks to this it will be completed, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told RBC TV.

Russian energy giant Gazprom and its Turkish partners are currently in talks on how the TurkStream pipeline can be used for deliveries to the European markets, said Elena Burmistrova, the chief executive of the Russian holding's export arm Gazprom Export.

"The USA is against the second line of the Turk Stream gas pipeline intended for gas supplies to Southeast Europe via Bulgaria, because our country views it as geostrategic project of Russia", the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale said in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio. 

Turkey will launch TurkStream natural gas pipeline next month, energy and natural resources minister said on Dec. 27.

"We will launch TurkStream on Jan. 8. We will be indispensable in international markets with natural gas pipelines coming from both the east and north," said Fatih Dönmez in a meeting in the northwestern Bilecik province.

Russia will respond in kind to U.S. sanctions against the TurkStream and NordStream II projects, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Dec. 23.

Speaking at the upper chamber of the Russian parliament in Moscow, the Council of Federation, Lavrov said preparing a fitting response needs both time and analysis.

Germany accused the United States of interfering in its internal affairs on Dec. 21 for imposing sanctions on companies working on a major project to supply Western Europe with Russian gas.    

Denmark approves Nord Stream 2 ″. The Danish Energy Agency has approved Nord Stream 2 AG to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline across the continental shelf of Denmark southeast of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, says in a statement.

The agency estimates that this route is the safest and meets environmental standards.

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is 75% complete, the project's operator, Nord Stream 2 AG, said in a statement released today. A total of 1,855 kilometers of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline were built along the bottom of the Baltic Sea in the waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden and Germany. That's about 75 percent of the total length of the pipeline, the release said.