Lobbyists are distancing themselves from foreign companies partnering on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline project after lobbying for them for a total of $17 million since 2017.
According to Politico, three lobbying firms severed ties with companies partnering on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.
The terminations bring a multimillion dollar lobbying push to a halt as President Joe Biden announces sanctions on the company constructing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and Germany pauses certification of the pipeline.
Foreign companies partnering on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 have spent heavily on lobbying around the pipeline project, which would deliver Russian natural gas to Germany while bypassing Ukraine. Those companies collectively spent more than $6.6 million on 2021 lobbying related to the pipeline and issues such as “natural gas as an element of European energy security.”
The sanctions target Nord Stream 2 AG, which is wholly-owned by Russia’s state-run energy firm Gazprom, as part of the Biden administration’s response to Russian President Vladimir Putin recognizing the autonomy of breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine and invasion of multiple Ukrainian cities. The sanctions also target Nord Stream’s CEO, a close Putin ally.
While Nord Stream is owned by the Russian state-run Gazprom, the Kremlin has insisted the pipeline is a “commercial project” and lobbyists for the pipeline were registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act instead of FARA, keeping details of which government officials the lobbyists met with hidden from the public. Lobbyists for foreign clients can choose to register under the LDA so long as the “principal beneficiary” is not a foreign government or political party.
Biden waived Nord Stream sanctions in 2021 and administration officials reportedly urged senators to quash sanction measures unless the White House has the power to waive the congressionally-mandated sanctions.
Foreign companies partnering on Nord Stream spent more than $6.8 million lobbying against sanctions and other issues related to the pipeline project since the start of 2020 alone.
Roberti Global has been the top beneficiary of Nord Stream 2’s lobbying spending with more than $9.1 million in payments since 2017. About $2.4 million of that went to 2021 lobbying during Biden’s administration. The lobbying firm is run by Democratic donor and lobbyist Vincent Roberti, who was an unofficial adviser to Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign
Nord Stream poured more money into lobbying with each passing year and companies partnering on the pipeline started to ramp up lobbying efforts in 2020.
BGR Group, which also terminated its contract with Nord Stream, has been paid about $1.6 million since the start of 2020.
Five foreign companies partnering with Gazprom on the pipeline — Austria’s OMV AG, the Netherlands’ Shell International, France’s ENGIE, and Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper SE — paid lobbyists at McLarty Inbound more than $1.6 million since the start of 2020.
The Democratic National Committee announced in May 2021 that Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and its joint fundraising committee refunded contributions from McLarty managing partner Richard Burt, the former U.S. ambassador to Germany. The refunds followed OpenSecrets reporting that he was a registered lobbyist at the time of his donations, and Biden had pledged to reject lobbyist donations.
While firms have terminated contracts for lobbying on the Nord Stream pipeline, Russian interests have poured millions of dollars in spending into other foreign influence operations targeting the U.S. as well.
Foreign agents reported about $182 million on Russian lobbying, foreign influence operations and propaganda in the U.S. since 2016, according to OpenSecrets’ analysis of Foreign Agents Registration Act and Lobbying Disclosure Act data.
Foreign agents working for Russian state media outlets spent $34.8 million on propaganda targeting the U.S. in 2021 alone.
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