Jared Kushner, the US president's son-in-law and special envoy, has been discussing potential American investment in the Nord Stream pipelines with a senior Russian official even as Washington continues to pose as Kyiv's staunchest ally.
The discussions could give American investors a stake in Russian energy infrastructure, opening a potential new source of profit from the conflict, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Kushner, who serves as a special envoy while simultaneously running his private investment firm Affinity Partners, discussed the matter with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian presidential adviser.
Affinity Partners relies heavily on funding from Persian Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.
The overlap is staggering because the same man negotiating on behalf of the United States through a consortium involving those same Persian Gulf investors stands to profit personally from the outcome.
A White House official said Kushner and US envoy Steve Witkoff had worked to negotiate "a substantial upfront payment and a participation in profits for the United States."
In other words, the United States government would be negotiating a profit-sharing arrangement with Russia, the very country Washington claims to be countering. And the president's son-in-law would be at the table.
Before Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, Germany bought more than half of its gas from Russia through Nord Stream, making the pipelines central to its energy supply.
The infrastructure was severely damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022, cutting off a major route for Russian gas and accelerating Europe’s shift toward alternative suppliers, including US LNG exporters.
The September 2022, explosions were widely confirmed as deliberate sabotage, but responsibility remains disputed.
The attack destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipeline lines, severing a major route for Russian gas to Europe.
In February 2023, journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that the US Navy planted the explosives with Norwegian assistance.
Washington denied the allegations, but the attack eliminated infrastructure that could have competed with US liquefied natural gas exports to Europe.
After the attacks, Germany replaced much of the lost Russian supply with more expensive American LNG.
Now the proposed arrangement could allow US investors to profit from Russian gas flows if deliveries resume.
The prospect of American investors gaining from the reopening of infrastructure disrupted during the war raises questions about whether Washington is seeking not only to shape the conflict’s outcome but also to secure commercial advantages from its aftermath.
A White House official told Reuters that any Nord Stream deal would have to be negotiated with the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Treasury Department.
However, a White House official said Kushner and US envoy Steve Witkoff had worked with the DFC to negotiate “a substantial upfront payment and a participation in profits for the United States.”
Michael Kellner, a German lawmaker and former energy-policy official, warned that the arrangement could become “a dirty deal that will cost Europe dearly.”
Europe has already paid dearly — in higher energy costs, in deindustrialization, in a war fought on its doorstep. Now it is being asked to accept a deal in which Washington profits from the very infrastructure it may have helped destroy.
The negotiations extend beyond Nord Stream, with Kushner and Dmitriev also discussing the sale of Russian oil company Lukoil’s European refineries and petrol stations, according to two sources familiar with those talks.
While Ukrainian soldiers die in trenches and European families struggle with energy bills, the president's son-in-law is negotiating a profit-sharing arrangement with Moscow.
The sanctions that were supposed to punish Russia are being lifted to enable the deal. The pipelines that were destroyed are being revived to enrich the connected.
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