Biden: No gas pipeline if Russia invades Ukraine

WASHINGTON (AP):

In a flurry of diplomacy across two continents, President Joe Biden met with Germany’s new leader 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.

Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron met for more than five hours in Moscow at the same time when Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke at the White House in efforts to defuse the crisis before armed conflict breaks out. Russia has amassed 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.

While Biden reiterated with certitude that the pipeline would not move forward, Scholz stressed the need to keep some ambiguity about sanctions in order to press Russia to de-escalate the crisis.

“It’s necessary for Russia to understand that a lot more could happen than they’ve perhaps calculated with themselves,” Scholz said.

The buildup of over 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine has fuelled Western worries of a possible offensive. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned on Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day,” triggering a conflict that would come at an “enormous human cost”.

At the same time, Biden and NATO allies have made clear that there are no plans for sending in troops to fight Russia on Ukraine’s behalf.

Macron and Putin, during their lengthy meeting – with a dinner that featured the choice of sturgeon or reindeer – registered their disagreements, but also emphasised a need for more talks.

Putin noted that the US and NATO have ignored Moscow’s demands that the alliance guarantee it will keep Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations out, refrain from placing weapons in Ukraine, and roll back alliance forces from Eastern Europe.

“We are categorically against any further NATO expansion eastwards because it poses a threat to us,” Putin said. “It’s not us who’s advancing to NATO, it’s NATO coming to us, and so it’s illogical to talk about Russia’s aggressive behaviour.”

He scoffed at Western descriptions of NATO as a defensive alliance, saying sarcastically that “people of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan have learned it from their own experience”. And he threatened a wider war if Ukraine should join the alliance and perhaps try to win back Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.