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President Joe Biden says he and Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, agree on the steps to be taken regarding the dangerous situation in Ukraine, where the prospect of a Russian invasion worries the whole of Europe.
The two leaders held their first face-to-face meeting on Monday.
The United States and Germany fully agree on imposing harsh consequences if Russia invades neighboring Ukraine, President Joe Biden said on Monday, at the end of his first face-to-face meeting with Germany’s new leader.
The meeting comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin has amassed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s border. Mr Putin says Ukraine’s desire to join NATO threatens Russia. He has called on the United States, NATO’s most powerful member, to suspend Ukraine from joining the alliance. The United States says the choice is Ukrainian.
On Sunday, about 1,700 US elite soldiers arrived in southeastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine. President Biden says he believes a diplomatic solution is still possible and that NATO partners do not see military action as the first option.
“Today, the chancellor and I discussed our close cooperation, drafting a strong package of sanctions that will clearly demonstrate international determination and impose swift and serious consequences if Russia violates Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. I want to thank Germany and all our partners in Eastern Europe, in the European Union, for their work in this joint effort. “We agreed that it could not be without consequences if Russia further invaded Ukraine.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed, but did not threaten to shut down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The still-unopened pipeline has the capacity to send 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Europe each year.
“We tell our American friends: We will be united, we will act together and we will take all the necessary steps,” said the German chancellor.
For his part, President Biden assured reporters that the pipeline would be shut down and clarified what would prompt this decision.
“If Russia invades – which means tanks or troops crossing the Ukrainian border again – then there will be no more Nord Stream 2. We will end the project.”
Former Chancellor Angela Merkel disagreed with President Biden over the pipeline.
Chancellor Scholz may change this stance although he is likely to follow Mrs Merkel’s policies on other issues.
“This energy deal is much broader than just a pipeline. “And the differences have apparently narrowed, because the German government and Chancellor Scholz himself have acknowledged that in the event of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would also be an open issue,” said Jeffrey Rathke, of the American Institute for Contemporary Studies. German.
The consequences would be severe for those who can hardly withstand such a blow.
“Pensioners are without heat and hungry, in many cases. // We, as a humanitarian organization on the ground, call on this strategic military-political game of chess, which includes Moscow, Minsk, Brussels and Washington and other capitals, to focus on helping people survive on the ground, protecting, and avoid a meaningless conflict. “Everyone would lose the conflict, but, above all, the 2 million people who live 20 kilometers from the front line,” said Jan Egeland with the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Also Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron met with the Russian president as part of an effort to find a diplomatic solution. Chancellor Scholz will travel to Kiev next week and from there to Moscow./VOA
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