BAndes Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has threatened Russia with a harsh response in the event of an attack on Ukraine. “In the event of a new aggression, we have a wide range of answers, including Nord Stream 2,” said Baerbock on Thursday in the debate on the Ukraine conflict in the Bundestag with a view to the Russian-German gas pipeline.
“Yes, we always want dialogue,” said Baerbock. “Whoever talks, doesn’t shoot.” But it is also about “hardness that makes it unmistakably clear: the cornerstones of the European peace order are non-negotiable,” said the minister. Germany and its allies had “made it very clear that renewed military action against Ukraine would have massive consequences for Russia.”
Baerbock sharply criticized the Russian approach again. “It’s hard not to see it as a threat when hundreds of thousands of soldiers with tanks and guns are massed near the Ukrainian border for no understandable reason,” she said in the Bundestag. She also opposed Russian demands “for so-called security guarantees that are incompatible with the European security order”.
Baerbock defends helmet delivery
Baerbock has denied allegations that Germany is not providing enough support to Ukraine. She referred to economic support and cooperation, but also to military aid. The announced and sometimes ridiculed delivery of 5,000 protective helmets was “taken at the request of the Ukrainians”, and Germany is currently involved in the repair of a protective bunker near Odessa and in the training of Ukrainian armed forces.
However, the Foreign Minister reiterated her no to arms deliveries. Although it is correct to “always reflect on one’s actions self-critically in difficult situations” on this point, too, one should not “close doors to de-escalation that are opening so hesitantly again at this very moment,” she pointed out Talks like on Wednesday in the so-called Normandy format between Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.
The unity of the West and acting as a team are decisive, said Baerbock, drawing a comparison to sport: “You don’t need eleven center forwards in a team”. There are also different roles when dealing with this conflict, Poland and Lithuania are in a different situation than Germany, for example, but also Great Britain or France. Progress in the negotiation process is currently “a priority for this federal government”.