Biden, an opponent of the old period of the old pipe project to Germany from Russia, said the Russian forces crossed to Ukraine will trigger closure.
President U.S. Joe Biden said on Monday that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would be stopped if Russia attacked Ukraine and emphasized unity with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a Western demonstration to avoid war in Europe.
At the White House press conference with a new German leader, Biden, an old opponent of the old pipe project to Germany from Russia, said Russian troops crossed to Ukraine will trigger shutdown.
“If Russia invades, it means tanks or troops across … Ukrainian borders again, then there will be … no longer Nord flow 2. We, we will end it,” Biden said. Asked how, considering the project in German control, Biden said: “I promise you, we will be able to do it.”
Scholz said the United States and Germany had the same approach to Ukraine, to Russia and for sanctions, but did not directly confirm the Nord Stream 2 plan or mention the pipe openly with the name during his visit for a day.
Whether the United States and Germany are on the same page as long as the $ 11 billion project has become an important question as the two main democracies lead the NATO allies in the pushback against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has collected around 100,000 soldiers near the Ukrainian border. This denies it planning an invasion. Us. Say attacks can occur within a few days or weeks.
Scholz, under fire at home and abroad for what has been seen as an inadequate leadership in the crisis, to Russian journalists will pay a very high price if invading Ukraine and said Germany and the United States have the same approach.
“We will unite. We will act together. And we will take all the necessary steps,” Scholz said in English.
Even before the pipe began to flow, Germany used Russian gas to cover half the needs. It delayed the approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipe until at least the second half of 2022, but had refused to cancel the project that was almost complete. ‘Off ramp’ for Putin?
Biden and Scholz stressed that they preferred diplomacy as a solution to Ukrainian conflict.
Asked whether Russia still has “off ramp” from any crisis, said Biden huh.
Scholz, whose popularity has spread 17 percentage points in recent weeks due to ratcheted tension with Moscow, will visit Ukraine and Russia next week, after this week’s meeting with Biden, Baltic Union officials and the Baltic head.
Biden-Scholz’s relationship can be important when the French President Emmanuel Macron has not declared if he will experience elections in three months, and while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is filled in the domestic crisis.
On Monday, Macron met Putin and told Russian leaders https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-plays-break-hope-breakth-ahead-macron-2022-02-07, he tried to avoid war and Build trust.
Biden said he had no doubt about the reliability of Germany as a partner and said Scholz had full confidence in the United States. “There is no doubt about the German partnership with the United States. Nothing,” Biden said.
Biden Officials and A.S. Emphasizing that Germany was the second largest donor from non-military assistance to Kyiv after the United States, and that they planned sanctions against Russia together.
The details of the sanction package are still being completed, but prohibiting Russia from the Swift financial transaction system remain an option, a US official said.
Steven Sokol, American council president in Germany, said Scholz needs to clarify Germany in Nord Stream 2 and show more “creativity” in providing assistance to Ukraine, lack of weapons delivery.