She was thus much less affirmative than Washington the day before on the imminence of a Russian attack. “We don’t know if an attack has already been decided, but the threat against Ukraine is very real”, according to Baerbock. Asked several times about the American assertions, the minister contented herself with replying: “we see that there are different scenarios, that different scenarios are emerging, that there are scripts”.
“We are ready to face any situation. At the same time, we are doing everything so that this situation does not occur,” she said.
Disinformation risk
The day before, US President Joe Biden had said, for the first time, “convinced” that Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine “in the coming days”, and that the multiplication of clashes was aimed at creating a ” false justification” to launch the offensive. “Above all, we must ensure that we are not victims of targeted disinformation,” warned the German minister.
In this context, the free access of OSCE observers to crisis areas in Ukraine “is essential”, she underlined.