The Biden administration has waived sanctions on a company building a controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.
The move came in a report on Russian sanctions delivered to Congress by the Department of State.
The project is already more than 95% complete.
It would take gas from the Russian Arctic under the Baltic Sea to Germany
Critics of the pipeline had hoped to stop it by targeting the German company and its top executive.
The Department of State report notes that Nord Stream 2 AG and its chief executive, Matthias Warnig, a former East German intelligence officer, engaged in sanctionable activity.
But it concludes that it is in the US national interest to waive the sanctions.