Scholz to Russia: Don't underestimate our resolve

Tensions around Russia's military buildup near Ukraine have launched a flurry of diplomatic activity, with talks among different European countries continuing Thursday.

The start of joint military exercises by Russia and Belarus has added urgency to efforts to defuse the situation in Ukraine.

Diplomatic talks in Germany

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: "What is at stake at the moment is nothing less than preventing a war in Europe."

"We want peace," he added following a meeting in Berlin with the leaders of the Baltic countries on Thursday.

Scholz warned of serious political, economic and strategic consequences for Moscow if Russian troops invade Ukraine.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas called on the West to stand united and persevere ahead of the trip to Germany.

"Our unity in Europe is of key importance at the moment. We must have strategic patience," she told the dpa news agency.

"Estonia is willing to provide weapons and ammunition to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression in cooperation with our allies," she said.

Foreign policy advisers from Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine are also meeting in Berlin behind closed doors to continue "Normandy format'' talks, named after the 2015 deal to end major hostilities between Russia and Ukraine.

Scholz is scheduled to visit Kyiv and Moscow on February 14 and 15.

When asked to comment on Scholz's hopes for a diplomatic solution in Ukraine, co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations Carl Bildt told DW that "one should be hopeful, but one should also be realistic."

"It's good that Berlin and Paris [are] now accelerating efforts on Donbas, but we should understand that the Russian game at the moment is much bigger," the former Swedish prime minister said.

Bildt said the "Russian game" was about Ukraine as a whole, and about "changing the entire European security order."

Boris Johnson at NATO and in Poland

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Brussels to meet NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Johnson described the Ukraine crisis as being at its most dangerous moment.

"I honestly don't think a decision has yet been taken (by Moscow). But that doesn't mean that it is impossible that something absolutely disastrous could happen very soon indeed," he told a news conference. "Our intelligence, I'm afraid to say, remains grim." 

Stoltenberg said it was a dangerous moment for European security, and that "the number of Russian forces is going up — the warning time for a possible attack is going down."

Johnson will later head to Poland for talks with President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Russia-UK talks in Moscow

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss traveled to Moscow and met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday.

Truss warned Russia that attacking its neighbor will " have massive consequences and carry severe costs." She urged Moscow to de-escalate and abide by international agreements.

Lavrov said in response that "ideological approaches, ultimatums and moralizing is a road to nowhere."

During an exchange of comments after the talks, Truss called for Moscow to pull back the more than 100,000 troops stationed near the border. Lavrov rejected the demand and pointed to NATO troop buildup in Eastern Europe.

"The demands to remove the Russian troops from the Russian territory cause regret,'' Lavrov said. "We don't want to threaten anyone. It's us who are facing threats."

Lavrov alleged that Western politicians were provoking tensions for domestic political purposes. He added that Russia had already planned to move its troops back after the drills, and that "the West will likely claim it has forced Russia to deescalate" once Russian troops return to their bases.

Lavrov said the West was using Ukraine against Moscow and accused Ukraine of attempting to rewrite the Minsk protocol, which outlined a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

"I'm honestly disappointed that what we have is a conversation between a dumb and a deaf person. It's as if we listen but we don't hear," Lavrov said.

Poland's foreign minister in Kyiv as rotating OSCE president 

Zbigniew Rau, Poland's foreign minister, who holds the rotating presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), was in Kyiv, where he called on all sides to show the political will and end the standoff between Russia and Ukraine.

Both Russia and Ukraine are members of the OSCE. The OSCE has monitored the conflict in eastern Ukraine in the Donbas between Russian-backed proxy forces and the Ukrainian military.

Rau said: "We are seriously concerned about the situation in and around Ukraine, both in Donbass and as regards Russia's growing military presence along the border with Ukraine and in Belarus."

"At the OSCE, we will continue to do everything we can, but it will take political will and engagement of all parties to live up to the obligations and bring the crisis to an end for good," Rau said.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, said Russia had blocked the OSCE's monitoring mission and plotted against the work of the Trilateral Contact Group, a three-way diplomatic forum for Russia, Ukraine and the OSCE.

Speaking beside Rau, Kuleba said: "A difficult situation cannot be resolved without making difficult decisions, and, therefore, it is impossible for the OSCE to remain permanently passively neutral in this process."

What's happened so far this week on Ukraine

The week kicked off with French President Emmanuel Macron going to Moscow to talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Macron told reporters that he had made proposals of "concrete security guarantees" to Putin, proposals Putin described as "realistic" and that could form a basis for further joint steps.

On Tuesday, Macron traveled to Kyiv to speak with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Upon arriving in Kyiv, Macron told reporters that he had received assurances from Putin that Moscow "won't be initiating an escalation" in the conflict.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also made a two-day visit to Ukraine. In Kyiv, she vowed solidarity with Ukraine, despite Berlin's refusal to send weapons to the country. Baerbock then went to the front line in eastern Ukraine to get a firsthand account of the humanitarian and military situation.

Scholz met with US President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday. At a joint press conference, Biden promised there would be no advancement of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Scholz said "far-reaching measures" had been agreed upon by Germany and its allies.

sdi, ar/sms (AP, Reuters, AFP, dpa)