The West will act quickly, decisively and unitedly if Russia invades Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz said on Monday before meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, after the United States warned that Moscow could move forward in days or weeks.
Scholz, criticized at home and abroad for what is seen as insufficient leadership in the crisis, told reporters in Washington that Russia would pay a heavy price if it invades Ukraine, as his defense minister announced plans to send up to 350 more troops to Lithuania.
“The question is to act quickly, agilely and decisively, and above all, in a united way,” Scholz said. “A very high price will have to be paid if Ukraine is attacked militarily.”
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Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, but denies it is planning an invasion. U.S. officials say an attack could happen in days or weeks.
The German leader, whose popularity has fallen 17 percentage points in recent weeks as tension with Moscow rose, is scheduled to visit both Ukraine and Russia next week, after meeting this week with Biden, European Union officials and the heads of the Baltic countries.
Scholz said Germany was working closely with the United States and its allies to finalize its sanctions plans, but said efforts to resolve the dispute diplomatically were also beginning to be felt.
“It’s about avoiding a war in Europe,” Scholz told ARD before his departure, adding that his first meeting as chancellor with Biden would involve “hard and real political work.” The two met in Rome in October, during a summit of Group of 20 leaders, when Scholz was still economy minister.
The Biden-Scholz relationship could be pivotal at a time when French President Emmanuel Macron has yet to declare whether he will stand for election in three months’ time, and when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is mired in an internal crisis.
U.S. officials downplayed differences with Germany, which relies on Russia for natural gas, saying Washington had been coordinating closely with Berlin and the EU on a “swift and severe package of sanctions” to impose on Russia in the event of an invasion.
