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Transcript/ScriptUS-GERMANY
HEADLINE: Biden Meets With German Chancellor to Show Unity on Ukraine Crisis
TEASER: The US president says America and Germany agree that ‘it cannot be business as usual if Russia further invades’
PUBLISHED: 02/07/2022 at 8:47 pm
BYLINE: Anita Powell
CONTRIBUTOR: Margaret Besheer
DATELINE: the White House
SCRIPT EDITORS: AR, Mia Bush, SR
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:34
SCRIPT APPROVED BY: mia
TYPE:
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((INTRO:))
[[President Joe Biden says he and Germany’s new chancellor are in lockstep over the perilous situation in Ukraine, where the specter of an imminent Russian invasion haunts all of Europe. The two leaders held their first in-person meeting on Monday. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from the White House. ]]
((NARRATOR))
The United States and Germany are in total agreement about imposing harsh consequences if Russia invades neighboring Ukraine, President Joe Biden said Monday, capping his first one-on-one with Germany’s new leader.
The meeting comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin has amassed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s border. Putin says Ukraine’s desire to join NATO threatens Russia. He has demanded that the U.S., the most powerful member of NATO, bar Ukraine’s entry. The U.S. says the choice is Ukraine’s to make.
On Sunday, about 1,700 elite American soldiers arrived in southeastern Poland, near the Ukrainian border. Biden says that he believes a diplomatic solution is still possible, and that NATO partners do not see military action as a first option.
((U.S. President Joe Biden))
"Today, the chancellor and I discussed our close cooperation, developed a strong package of sanctions that are going to clearly demonstrate international resolve and impose swift and severe consequences if Russia violates Ukraine's sovereignty and its territorial integrity. And I want to thank Germany and all of our other partners in Eastern Europe, in the European Union, for their work in this united effort. We are in agreement that it cannot be business as usual if Russia further invades."
((NARRATOR))
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed, but stopped short of threatening to stop the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. That unopened pipeline would send 55 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia to Europe each year.
((Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor))
“We say to our American friends: We will be united, we will act together, and we will take all the necessary steps."
((NARRATOR))
Biden, however, assured reporters that the pipeline would indeed be stopped, and what would trigger that decision.
((U.S. President Joe Biden))
"If Russia invades — that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again — then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it."
((NARRATOR))
Former Chancellor Angela Merkel disagreed openly with Biden over the status of the pipeline.
That position may be shifting, analysts say, although Scholz is likely to follow Merkel’s footsteps in most other ways.
[[Radio: Jeffrey Rathke, president of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, via Zoom]]
((Jeffrey Rathke, American Institute for Contemporary German Studies))
“This energy relationship is much deeper than just one gas pipeline. And there, you know, the differences have been narrowing, I would say, because the German government and indeed Chancellor Scholz himself have acknowledged that in the event of Russian aggression against Ukraine, even the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would be on the table.”
((NARRATOR))
The stakes are high for those who can hardly afford such a blow.
((Jan Egeland, Norwegian Refugee Council)) ((Skype))
“Here it's pensioners really, freezing, starving, in many cases. // So, what we're appealing for as humanitarian organizations on the ground is that this military, political strategic chess game, involving Moscow and Minsk and Brussels and Washington and capitals, that it is concentrating on helping people survive on the ground, protecting them, and avoiding a senseless conflict. Everybody would lose from the conflict, but, first and foremost, the 2 million people who live within 20 kilometers from the frontline.”
Also Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron met with Putin, as part of the effort to find a diplomatic path. Scholz will travel next week to Kyiv, and from there, Moscow.
Anita Powell, VOA News, the White HousE
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateFebruary 7, 2022 21:16 EST
BylineAnita Powell
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
