White House: Additional Nord Stream 2 Sanctions Won’t ‘Change the Behavior of President Putin’

President Biden waived sanctions against Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany earlier this year, and on Tuesday -- amid a Russian military buildup near Ukraine -- the Biden White House downplayed the significance of those waivers.

Some members of Congress in both parties want Biden to use the pipeline as leverage to influence Russia's behavior regarding Ukraine.

Briefing reporters on Tuesday after President Biden’s video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said there were “a lot of members on the Hill – not a lot, some, who are vocal,” who were arguing that taking “additional steps” against the Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline would be “the answer here.”

She referred to a point made earlier in the briefing by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan who said that pipeline sanctions “would actually not be an effective deterrent, that that is not effectively going to change the behavior of President Putin.”

“There are some who are suggesting that this would deter, and our assessment is that it would not,” Psaki added.