Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Wednesday offered rare praise for President Joe Biden over sanctions targeting the company behind a controversial pipeline that has become a flashpoint in the intensifying Ukraine-Russia crisis.

Biden said Wednesday that he was moving ahead with sanctions on the company in charge of building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline after blocking such measures last year using a national security waiver.

The move is part of a series of penalties the US and its allies have imposed on Russia this week in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of separatist territories in eastern Ukraine as independent.