Hearing the news that Germany was about to offer a deal on Nord Stream 2, the Russian Foreign Ministry officials were rubbing their hands in glee expecting future talks on the gas pipeline construction. However, the joy was short-lived, as Germans were proposing the deal to the United States.

Perhaps someone does not fully understand what the United States has to do with this purely commercial Russian project, and, moreover, with the business deals that involve Nord Stream 2. Those who are in the loop know that the project has not been launched yet. Russia does not have a direct influence on the process. The future fate of the gas pipeline depends on the decision of completely different people, primarily officials of the United States and Germany. Thus, Germany can simply refuse to participate in the project. In that case, there will be no gas pipe at all, as US sanctions will make cooperation with Russian gas companies a very expensive business affair. So far, Germany has been using this conflict of interest for its own purposes, offering the United States to do a swap: Washington does not impose sanctions and Berlin allocates 1 billion euros for the construction of two terminals for American liquefied natural gas (LNG) in return.

"In exchange, the United States will allow the smooth completion and operation of Nord Stream 2,"  a letter from German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz sent in August 2020 to US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.