The U.S. State Department is tracking efforts to complete Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and evaluating information on entities that appear to be involved, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, writes Reuters.

“Any entity involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline risks U.S. sanctions and should immediately abandon work on the pipeline”, Blinken said in a statement, adding the Biden administration is committed to complying with 2019 and 2020 legislation with regards to the pipeline and sanctions.

Shortly after Blinken’s statement, Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican and an opponent of the pipeline, lifted a hold he had placed on two of President Joe Biden’s nominees, including William Burns for director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Nord Stream 2, led by Russia state energy company Gazprom with its Western partners, would double the capacity of an existing link to take Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Biden believes the project is a “bad deal” for Ukraine and Central and Eastern European allies, Blinken said.