Joe Biden met with Germany’s 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 US and its allies are the only ones talking invasion.
Russia has massed thousands of troops at the Ukraine border, adding military might almost daily.
The White House has expressed increasing alarm about the prospects of war, and Biden has been looking to solidify support among European allies for economy-jarring sanctions against Russia if it attacks.
"If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2," Biden said. "We will bring an end to it.'' That would hurt Russia economically but also cause supply problems for Germany. Construction of the pipeline has been completed, but it is not yet operating.
"We are jointly ready, and all of NATO is ready," Biden said, referring to the powerful Western alliance, though Ukraine is not a member.
Biden already has deployed additional US troops to Poland, Romania and Germany, and a few dozen elite US troops and equipment landed Sunday in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, with hundreds more infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division set to arrive.
German leader Olaf Scholz, however, seemed less keen on blocking the Nord Stream 2 Russia to Germany gas pipeline in an interview with CNN, though the two nations seemed united on the front for weeks. At the press conference with Biden, Scholz didn’t even mention the pipeline, CNN reported. While he did not clarify his intentions with the Nord Stream 2 project, Scholz did say that Germany would put on a united front with the US. A key reason holding back Scholz from confronting Russia on this aspect could be that Germany relies quite heavily on Russia for energy.
But leaders within his coalition are flummoxed over this display of hesitancy. "There is no reasonable explanation for this," said Reinhard Bütikofer, a European Parliament lawmaker who used to co-chair the German Greens, one of three parties in Scholz’s government told Politico. Another reason for Scholz’s hesitancy might be because leaders in his party—Social Democrats are quite keen on the pipeline. Pulling out of the pipeline could also cause the German government to confront courthouse challenges and legal payouts.
The US in the meantime has busied itself looking for alternate supplies of energy to be diverted to Europe. The Nord Stream 2 transmits Russian natural gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany, circumventing Ukraine.
What Germany would do about the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has ruffled feathers in Ukraine too. Ukraine opposes the project as it bypasses Ukrainian territory and transit fees. Scholz has also resisted extending support in form of supplying arms to Ukraine. Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock was to meet with Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky, but, the latter backed out of the meeting over Germany’s uncertain position on the pipeline. Germany’s keenness to underplay the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project has been foiled due to complications arising in Ukraine. The US and other western nations haven’t been too keen on the project as they fear that this would further Europe’s dependency on Russia for energy. The financial advantage of avoiding Ukrainian transit fees is another reason that makes Germany keen on the pipeline project. Scholz and Baerbock have said Germany needs Russian gas during the transition from coal and nuclear energy to renewables, Politico has reported. These contingencies would certainly make the upcoming months messy.
--With PTI inputs
