Biden: Invasion Threatens Pipeline

4 nations' leaders confer about Ukraine crisis in 2 meetings
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 7, 2022 5:40 PM CST
Biden Threatens Russia on Pipeline
A Ukrainian serviceman holds his weapon Monday at a frontline position in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine.   (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

In a flurry of diplomacy across two continents, President Biden emerged from a meeting with Germany's new leader Monday vowing the crucial Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline would be blocked if Russia further invades Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the US and its allies were the only ones talking about invasion, the AP reports. Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron met for hours in Moscow at the same time Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke at the White House in efforts to defuse the crisis. Russia has massed thousands of troops at the Ukraine border, adding military might almost daily.

The Biden administration has expressed increasing alarm about the prospect of war, and the president has been looking to solidify support among European allies for economy-jarring sanctions against Russia if it sparks armed conflict. "We are jointly ready, and all of NATO is ready," Biden said, referring to the powerful Western alliance, of which Ukraine is not a member. While Biden reiterated with certitude that the pipeline would not move forward, Scholz stressed the need to keep some ambiguity about sanctions. "It's necessary for Russia to understand that a lot more could happen than they’ve perhaps calculated with themselves," Scholz said.

Biden on Monday said "it would be wise" for Americans other than essential diplomats to leave Ukraine amid the Russian military threat. In Moscow, Putin and Macron met for several hours. Putin later said without elaboration that some of Macron's proposals could serve as a basis for a settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, adding that they agreed to have a call after Macron's visit to Kyiv on Tuesday. Likewise, Biden said when asked if there remained an "offramp" for Russia in the standoff: "The answer is yes."

(More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)

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