Chancellor Scholz also denied rumors that the US and the EU could not agree on a joint set of sanctions against the Russian Federation.Scholz rejected Russia’s demand to exclude Ukraine’s NATO membership once and for all / photo: REUTERS

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Europe and the United States to carefully consider the issue of sanctions against Russia for any aggression against Ukraine.

So, among a number of possible Western sanctions against the government of Vladimir Putin, Germany may be stopping the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, subject to an invasion of Ukraine. However, according to Scholz, this could exacerbate the crisis in gas supplies to Europe, which led to a sharp rise in energy prices, according to Reuters .

“Caution dictates the choice of measures that will have the greatest impact on those who violate jointly agreed principles,” Scholz said.

“At the same time, we must take into account the consequences that will be reflected on us,” the chancellor added, saying that there is no measure without consequences for Germany.

Scholz also dismissed rumors that the United States and Europe could not agree on a joint set of sanctions.

“In the circle of allies, we are agreeing on possible measures. This is good. We must be able to act in case of an emergency,” he said.

Scholz also rejected Russia’s demand to exclude Ukraine’s membership in NATO’s transatlantic military alliance once and for all. 

“Such a guarantee cannot be given,” the Chancellor said. However, in his opinion, membership in NATO of other countries of Eastern Europe “is not on the agenda at present at all.”

Recall that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine noted that the statements of individual German politicians are detrimental to bilateral relations.

Earlier, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder, in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemaine Zeitung, spoke out against anti-Russian sanctions, saying that Moscow is not an enemy of Europe. He added that in the near future there can be no question of Ukraine joining NATO.

On the evening of January 22, the 56-year-old Commander of the German Navy, Vice Admiral Kai-Achim Schönbach , resigned after a scandal provoked by his statements that “Ukraine will never return the occupied Crimea” and “should not be accepted into NATO.”

Schönbach subsequently stated that his uncoordinated statements regarding Crimea and NATO’s eastward expansion were his own opinion and not the official position of the federal government.

(C)UNIAN 2022