Newsman: President Joe Biden welcomed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House Monday at a critical time for the leaders as tensions with Russia persist over Ukraine.
President Joe Biden said the U.S. would “bring an end” to the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine. Biden said while standing next to the new chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, at a White House news conference. Scholz faced scrutiny over the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a 745-mile natural gas pipeline that bypasses Ukrainian transit infrastructure to deliver Russian gas directly to Germany. The pipeline has been built but is not yet operational.
“If Russia invades — that means tanks for troops crossing the border of Ukraine — then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”.
I promise you, we will be able to do it,” he told reporters.
Biden did not elaborate that how he would keep that promise given the pipeline is not under U.S. control.
Biden went on to say that while Putin is “in a position now to be able to invade,” the U.S. does not know whether he will take that step.
“What he’s going to do, I don’t know. And I don’t think anybody knows but him,” Biden said.
Biden also cautioned that Americans in Ukraine who are not U.S. government employees should leave the country.
“I think it would be wise to leave the country,” Biden said. “I’d hate to see them get caught in a crossfire.”
German Chancellor Scholz has refused to send arms to Ukraine, instead offering 5,000 helmets, which Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, dismissed as “a joke.” And Scholz has also declined to specify what type of sanctions he would support if Russia were to invade.
During brief remarks in the Oval Office ahead of a joint press conference, Biden said the two countries are “working in lockstep to further deter Russian aggression in Europe and address the challenges opposed by China and promote stability in the Western Balkans,” as military forces buildup along the Ukraine border.
The U.S. has warned that the pipeline could make Germany overly reliant on Russia for energy. The Ukrainian government, which will lose out on a substantial amount of revenue due to the new pipeline, has called Nord Stream 2 an “existential threat” to its security.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, meanwhile, declined to take a firm stance on the fate of Nord Stream 2, telling reporters that Germany was “acting together” with its allies and promising “very, very harsh” steps against Russia if it invades Ukraine.
The United States and its NATO partners have expressed increasing concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has positioned 100,000 troops near the Ukraine border, plans to invade sometime soon.
