Kushner and Dmitriev discuss attracting American investors to Nord Stream

Jared Kushner, son-in-law of the U.S. president, and Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president’s special representative for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, along with other senior Russian and American officials, are discussing bringing in an American investor for the Nord Stream pipelines with the aim of restarting them after the end of the war in Ukraine.

This was reported by Reuters, citing sources.

According to the agency, Kushner operates from the belief that business can help restore peace. A pipeline deal, in his logic, would allow American investors to profit from energy supplies to Europe after the war ends.

The White House, however, maintains that pipeline talks have not taken place recently. A representative of the Washington administration, responding to a question about discussions of the pipeline project, stated:

“Any deals with Russia would have to be approved by the DFC (the government agency — the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation) and the Treasury Department. They must benefit American taxpayers and companies.”

Reuters notes that it remains unclear how interested Washington is in resuming Russian gas supplies to Germany. One American official said that, given the existing obstacles, reaching an agreement in the medium term is unlikely. Both pipelines are under U.S. and EU sanctions.

The topic of Nord Stream negotiations has come up before. Last year, Politico reported that Moscow was in talks with Washington about resuming the project. A week ago, The New York Times reported that Russia and the United States were discussing the sale of Lukoil assets that were frozen abroad following the imposition of American sanctions.