Russian lawmaker says cordial meeting, Nord Stream move ‘good sign’ for U.S. relations

A leading foreign policy voice in Russia’s national parliament said the amicable talks this week between the U.S. and Russian top diplomats and the Biden administration not to try to block a controversial Russia-German energy pipeline are a hopeful sign that bilateral ties may improve soon.

Konstantin Kosachev, deputy speaker of the Russian Federation Council, the legislature’s upper chamber, praised the tone of the first meeting Wednesday of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and longtime Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of a summit on the Arctic in Reykjavik, Iceland.

“I liked the cautious optimism of our foreign minister after the talks,” Mr. Kosachev told the TASS news agency. “Given that traditionally [Mr. Lavrov] provides a realistic evaluation, this is a rather good sign.”

He added, “The recognition that the current situation is an anomaly and that this mess needs to be cleaned up is a good place to start.”

By contrast, President Biden is facing growing bipartisan flak in Washington from U.S. legislators for the decision to waive key sanctions on the nearly complete Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, which links Russian producers directly to Germany and bypasses current routes through U.S. allies Poland and Ukraine. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Thursday became the latest senior lawmaker to condemn the decision.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, locked in a civil war with Russian-backed separatists in his country’s eastern half, frankly admitted that the U.S. punt on the Nord Stream 2 fight left him deeply uneasy.

“It would be a loss for the United States, and I believe it would be President Biden’s personal loss,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in comments reported by The Associated Press. “It would mark a serious geopolitical victory for the Russian Federation and a new redistribution of spheres of influence.”

While Kyiv said the Biden administration promised to consult in advance on any future moves on the pipeline, the Ukrainian leader told reporters Thursday, “Are there risks that some issues will be raised despite our agreements? Yes, I’m sure that there are such risks. I’ll be frank with you, I’m scared by this situation.”

The State Department said it was levying sanctions on Russian players in the NordStream 2 deal, but waiving them for the main German contractor, effectively allowing the project to proceed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow Thursday the decision was “definitely a positive signal.”

Mr. Kosachev said that, from the Russian perspective, even though the two-hour Lavrov-Blinken meeting dealt with difficult matters, it also touched on issues where Moscow and Washington can work together, including climate change, the future of Afghanistan and the fight against the global pandemic.

Relations between the White House and the Kremlin have been particularly rocky in the first months of Mr. Biden’s term, but the Blinken-Lavrov meeting was expected to lay the groundwork for a first summit between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming weeks.

“It’s clear that the sides view the reasons and ways out differently, but that’s why there is dialogue to boil the approaches down to a common denominator,” Mr. Kosachev said. “… I would say that the situation depends largely on the U.S. leader because our positions, as they say, are on the table and we have always clearly declared [our] readiness to cooperate.”