The United States welcomed Germany’s halt on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline after Russia recognized separatist regions in eastern Ukraine. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has suspended the certification process for the undersea pipeline that directly links Russian gas to Europe via Germany and is complete but not yet operating.

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The White House further added that the US will following up with’our own measures today’. 

“@POTUS (President Joe Biden) made clear that if Russia invaded Ukraine, we would act with Germany to ensure Nord Stream 2 does not move forward. We have been in close consultations with Germany overnight and welcome their announcement. We will be following up with our own measures today,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki tweeted.

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Nord Stream 2 is a 1,230-kilometer-long (764-mile-long) natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, running from Russia to Germany’s Baltic coast. It runs parallel to an earlier Nord Stream pipeline and would double its capacity, to 110 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

 The White House on Tuesday began referring to Russian troop deployments in eastern Ukraine as an “invasion” after initially hesitating to use the term — a red line that President Joe Biden has said would result in the US levying severe sanctions against Moscow.

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“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” said Jon Finer, principal deputy national security adviser.

He said “latest” was important. “An invasion is an invasion and that is what is under way.”

With inputs from the Associated Press