US: Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline is 'dead'

INA-  sources

The controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was halted over Russia's invasion of Ukraine is "dead," a senior US official said, appearing to dash any hopes that the $12-billion gas venture could have a future.

"I think Nord Stream 2 is now dead," Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told US lawmakers about the Kremlin's prize geopolitical energy project that became a victim of Western sanctions.

"It is a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea, I don't think it will ever be revived," she added.

The comments, in a hearing assessing the US response to Russia's invasion, came on the same day President Joe Biden delivered a body blow to Moscow by announcing the United States was cutting off Russian energy imports.

The move marked a major tightening of the economic chokehold on President Vladimir Putin's Russia that has seen the country's currency crash, inflation and borrowing costs soar, and Moscow's access to global financial markets evaporate.

And "there is more on the way from the G7 or EU partners and countries around the world if President Putin does not end this vicious war," Nuland said.

"We're also working with our allies and partners to limit the disruption of global energy supplies and to prevent Russia from weaponising its global energy exports, while also accelerating diversification of energy supplies."