Nearly half of the Senate ‒ some 40 lawmakers ‒ introduced a resolution Wednesday that would call on US President Donald Trump to try to block Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
The resolution was cosponsored by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Dick Durbin (D-IL). Earlier in December, the House of Representatives passed a resolution urging the cancellation of the pipeline.
The resolution is “calling for the pipeline’s cancellation due to its threat to European energy security, and calling on the Russian Federation to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Kerch Strait,” according to the Hill, which viewed a copy.
It also calls on Trump to work with lawmakers and international allies “to ensure the appropriate policies to deter the Russian Federation from further aggression,” urges the president to organize a “robust multinational freedom of navigation operation in the Black Sea,” send more aid to “enhance the capability of the Ukrainian military” and “provide additional security assistance to Ukraine, especially to strengthen Ukraine’s maritime capabilities”
The resolution further calls on NATO to “enhance allied maritime presence and capabilities.”
“The United States and our allies need to rapidly counter Russia’s military aggression in the Kerch Strait with strong and resolute action,” Johnson said in a statement
In November, Russia captured three Ukrainian vessels operating in its territorial waters, leading to widespread condemnation from Western governments. Less than a month later, the Senate passed a different resolution condemning the move.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
