Germany is willing to pay a financial penalty, including costs resulting from the mothballing of Nord Stream 2, to punish Moscow with sanctions if Russia attacks Ukraine, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has announced.
“We in Germany are prepared to pay a high economic price for this. That’s why all options are on the table for me, also Nord Stream 2,” Berbock said, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
The German top diplomat warned that Western powers were united in their readiness to use “unprecedented sanctions” pressure against Moscow. “We show solidarity because we are committed to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and I’m being very clear here,” she said.
“If there was a Russian attack on Ukraine, this would have massive consequences for Russia, financially, politically and economically,” Baerbock stressed. She went on to suggest that Berlin “doesn’t want” to threaten Russia, and would prefer “to have a serious security dialogue on security and peace together in Europe.”
Baerbock’s Green Party is part of the German coalition government of Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholtz that was put together following elections last year. While in opposition during Angela Merkel’s chancellorship, the Greens consistently attacked Nord Stream 2, and supported the import of more gas from the United States and other countries instead. Baerbock has also called publicly for NATO’s continued eastward expansion and rejected closer economic cooperation with China.
US Senate lawmakers have also threatened to target Nord Stream 2, notwithstanding a recent report from S&P Global that any reductions in Russian gas deliveries to Europe would be difficult if not impossible to replace.
Last week, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire suggested that the launch of Nord Stream 2 could actually ease tensions over Ukraine.
The US and its NATO allies have spent months claiming that Russia is on the brink of invading its Ukrainian neighbour, even setting a concrete date of 16 February for the incursion. The date came and went without incident, prompting media to speculate on a new invasion timetable "shortly after February 20." Moscow has rejected the invasion claims and accused Washington, its allies and the media of stoking tensions artificially to justify the beefing up of NATO’s footprint near Russian borders.
On Friday, instead of a “Russian” escalation, the region is facing a security crisis of a different sort in the form of renewed fighting in the civil war in eastern Ukraine, where local independence militias have reported on the threat of a full-out assault by Kiev forces, and have ordered the evacuation of the civilian population to Russia.