“If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will put an end to it,” Mr. Biden said at a joint appearance with Chancellor
Olaf Scholz
of Germany after the leaders met at the White House. “I promise you, we will be able to do it.”
Mr. Scholz said Germany and the U.S. are aligned in their positions regarding Moscow’s potential invasion of Ukraine. In keeping with his past statements, he didn’t cite suspending the pipeline specifically as among the steps his government is ready to take to punish Russia.
“We are acting together. We are absolutely united, and we will not be taking any steps, we will do the same steps, and they will be very, very hard to Russia, and they should understand,” Mr. Scholz said.
The potential fate of Nord Stream 2 has been closely watched as the U.S. and its allies put together a raft of punishing sanctions and other economic measures to be imposed in the event of a Russian assault on Ukraine.
The meeting between Messrs. Biden and Scholz is part of a round of diplomacy to try to defuse the crisis over Ukraine, on whose borders Russia has amassed military forces.
President
Emmanuel Macron
of France met with President Vladimir Putin of Russia for more than five hours at the Kremlin on Monday and plans to travel to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for talks with President
Volodymyr Zelensky
of Ukraine on Tuesday. Mr. Macron is also coordinating with Mr. Scholz.
Mr. Macron said the Russian leader had given him assurances that he was open to exploring ways to defuse the Ukraine crisis.
“It is our shared responsibility to agree on concrete measures to stabilize the situation,” Mr. Macron said, adding: “President Putin has assured me of his availability to commit to this logic.”
Mr. Putin said Mr. Macron had floated “a number of his ideas, proposals, which it is still too early to talk about. Nevertheless, I consider it quite possible to lay the basis for our further steps.”
The 765-mile-long Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a marquee project for the Kremlin and would boost Russia’s supply of…
Read More: Biden Says Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Won’t Go Forward if Russia Invades