Volodymyr Zelensky was invited to Washington after Biden disappointed Ukraine by waiving most sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline being built from Russia to Germany
The department's review, required by Congress, concludes that Nord Stream 2 AG and CEO Matthias Warnig, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, engaged in sanctionable activity but that it was in the US national interests to waive the sanctions, the source said.
Russian officials on Wednesday signaled that the move could help mend Washington's fraught ties with Moscow.
"This project is of great importance for the security of supply of the European gas market, it is therefore Europe's responsibility to decide," Seele told Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung.
"We have had a deep transatlantic friendship with the USA for decades. And friends shouldn't threaten each other," he said in an interview published on Saturday.
The vessel departed from the German port of Wismar on Thursday, Refinitiv Eikon ship-tracking data showed, as the Nord Stream 2 consortium pushes to complete construction of the gas pipeline.
The US has been threatening sanctions against European companies that support construction of the $11 billion gas pipeline, and Zurich Insurance Group dropped out last month.
Munich Re Syndicate has issued the notice of termination to Nord Stream 2," a spokesman said in an emailed statement on Tuesday, referring to the company's subsidiary.