by Andreas Rinke and Sarah Marsh
BERLIN, Feb 13 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will tell Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet in Moscow on Tuesday that a Russian attack on Ukraine would have “serious consequences” but Berlin is not waiting concrete results of this interview, we learned on Sunday from a German government source.
Olaf Scholz is due to travel to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, on Monday to meet President Volodimir Zelensky and the next day Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin, eight days after a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, as part of the efforts undertaken in an attempt to prevent an armed conflict.
The United States says an invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops massed near its borders can now begin at any time. Russia denies any plans for an attack and explains that it is responding to the aggressive attitude of NATO countries.
“The Chancellor will make it clear that any attack on Ukraine will have serious consequences (…) and that the unity between the European Union, the United States and Great Britain should not be underestimated” , said the German government source during a meeting with journalists.
Olaf Scholz believes that the fact that Moscow has amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders can “only be interpreted as a threat”, the source said.
While Vladimir Putin demands guarantees that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the latter will not deploy missiles near Russia’s borders, the source said that a moratorium on a possible entry of Ukraine in NATO was not part of Olaf Scholz’s “toolbox”.
Asked about the possibility of a de-escalation of the crisis, she replied that the determining factor would be the evolution of the situation on the ground.
“The current situation is in itself already a destabilizing situation which may spiral out of control,” she said.
“I don’t expect concrete results but these direct discussions are important,” the source also said. “This is not the first time that we have discussed these subjects with Putin, and it will not be the last.”
(Report Andreas Rinke and Sarah Marsh, French version Marc Angrand)