He wrote that if someone “had illusions about the US attitude towards Russia in connection with Trump’s promises to establish relations with Moscow”, then the sanctions against “Nord Stream - 2” “didn’t leave a stone unturned from them.”
Pushkov also noted that "during the pre-election period in the USA, such shifts in relations with Russia are all the more impossible."
On December 20, US leader Donald Trump signed the country's defense budget for the new fiscal year, which provides for sanctions against SP-2.
The Kremlin called these measures unacceptable, promising not to leave them unanswered.
Later, the State Department announced that the Nord Stream 2 contracting companies would not be subject to US sanctions if all work on the gas pipeline was curtailed before January 20.