Washington/Kyiv/Warsaw - In a flurry of diplomacy across two continents, President Joe Biden met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday and vowed the crucial Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline will be blocked if Russia further invades Ukraine. Russia’s Vladimir Putin retorted that the U.S. and its allies are the only ones talking invasion.
At the White House press conference with the new German leader, Biden, a longtime opponent of the decade-old pipeline project to Germany from Russia, said Russian forces crossing into Ukraine would trigger a shutdown.
Scholz said the United States and Germany had the same approach to Ukraine, to Russia and to sanctions, but did not directly confirm the Nord Stream 2 plans or mention the pipeline publicly by name over the course of his day-long visit.
Even before the pipeline starts flowing, Germany uses Russian gas to cover half its needs. It delayed approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline until at least the second half of 2022, but has refused to cancel the nearly completed project.
Biden and Scholz emphasized that they preferred diplomacy as a solution to the Ukraine conflict.
Germany pledges support
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock promised unequivocal German support for Ukraine on a visit to Kyiv on Monday as the two sides sought to narrow differences on Ukraine's request for weapons to prepare for a possible attack from Russia.
In a joint press conference, Baerbock and her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba said no one would be able to drive a wedge between their two countries, and Baerbock stressed Germany was willing to pay a high economic price to contain Moscow.
Ukrainian officials have publicly criticised Germany for refusing to sell defensive weapons to Kyiv and over its perceived reluctance to stop gas flowing through the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia if Moscow launches an attack.
Baerbock's visit to Kyiv, her second in three weeks, is one of a series by senior officials from NATO member states intended to show solidarity with Ukraine since Russia massed tens of thousands of troops near its borders.
Baerbock held talks in Kyiv one day before the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday.
Germany and France are co-sponsors of peace talks between Ukraine and Russian-backed forces fighting a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
U.S. troops arrive in Poland
A plane carrying U.S. troops landed in Poland on Sunday, Reuters reoprted, as Washington reinforces its NATO allies in Eastern Europe amid a Russian military build-up on Ukraine's border.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered nearly 3,000 extra troops to Poland and Romania, as Washington moves to reassure jittery NATO allies.
The Pentagon said that around 1,700 service members, mainly from the 82nd Airborne Division, would deploy from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland.
Russia has denied plans to invade Ukraine but has deployed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine's borders and says it could take unspecified military measures if its demands are not met, including a promise by NATO never to admit Ukraine.
-Reuters