Germany’s Foreign Minister Baerbock is threatening Russia with further sanctions, even if this has economic consequences. She said that after a meeting with US Secretary of State Blinken in Berlin. The transatlantic partners continue to rely on diplomacy in the Ukraine conflict with Russia.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Germany’s Secretary of State Annalena Baerbock during their meeting in Berlin.
It had been a week of intense diplomacy, said Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, when she appeared in front of the cameras with her counterpart Antony Blinken in Berlin on Thursday. The United States Secretary of State had come to Germany for talks to coordinate further action against Russia in the Ukraine conflict. But despite all the diplomacy, the situation is getting worse and worse, and the tone of the western allies is becoming sharper.
Russia has now stationed around 100,000 soldiers on the Ukrainian border. A new war could threaten Ukraine if Russian troops invaded.
Baerbock said it was “no less than preserving the European peace order”. She and Blinken continue to rely on diplomacy: “The only way out of the crisis is a political way, and this way only leads through dialogue.” However, the “Russian behavior” still speaks a different language.
“Serious Consequences”
The “worrying activities” are increasing, for example due to the Russian troop deployment to Belarus and joint military maneuvers in the border area with Ukraine. There is a common stance in Europe and the USA: “We urgently call on Russia to take steps to de-escalate. Any further aggressiveness would have serious consequences.”
The German foreign minister significantly increased the pressure: She emphasized that the consistent commitment to “maintaining the European peace order” also applies if the measures taken against Russia “for us” have economic consequences. This probably means the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is supposed to supply Western Europe with Russian gas supplies via the Baltic Sea.
Talks against «Russian aggression»
Blinken confirmed the diplomatic path to de-escalate the “Russian aggression”. Germany and the USA are ready to stand up for democracy and human rights. Moscow has many tools up its sleeve. But their unity gives the transatlantic partners a strength that Russia cannot muster.
Blinken supported Baerbock’s initiative to bring the Normandy format – in which representatives from Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine discuss issues related to the Ukraine conflict – back to life together with France. Blinken plans to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Friday.
No arms deliveries from Germany
Germany continues to refuse arms deliveries to Ukraine. Any “further aggressiveness” would have a high price, said Baerbock. This “unmistakable and unanimous commitment” by the EU, the G7 and NATO is “the most effective lever we have to strengthen Ukraine’s back”. Germany has “a tradition of particular reluctance to export armaments to conflict zones”.
Domestically, too, Baerbock is currently under great pressure after it became known on Wednesday that the public prosecutor’s office had initiated investigations against the federal executive of the Greens due to initial suspicion of infidelity. At the press conference on Thursday, she said in passing that the money from the Corona bonus, which is the issue here, had already been repaid. The party is cooperating with the investigating authorities in order to clarify the facts “quickly and completely”.