Berlin: After two days of intense diplomacy on both sides of the Atlantic about the Ukraine crisis, the leaders of France, Germany and Poland said their overriding goal was the preservation of peace in Europe, but warned Russia of dire consequences if it launched further incursions into Ukraine.
“We share one goal,” Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, said on Tuesday after the leaders met in Berlin. “Preserving peace in Europe with diplomacy and clear messages and the common readiness to act jointly.”
But, he made clear, peace could not come at any price. Speaking a day after meeting President Biden in Washington, Mr. Scholz continued: “A further violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine is unacceptable and would lead to far-reaching consequences for Russia, politically, economically and surely strategically, too.”
The leaders of France, Germany and Poland said there would be “far-reaching consequences” against Russia, but did not specify what those steps might be.CreditCredit…Pool photo by Thibault Camus
It was one of the strongest statements yet on the crisis from Mr. Scholz. Germany has faced criticism for what has been perceived as a weak response to the huge Russian troop buildup at the Ukrainian border. But the meeting with Mr. Biden appeared to have stiffened the resolve of the chancellor, who took office just two months ago.
He was flanked by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and President Andrzej Duda of Poland, who called the situation “the most difficult since 1989.” Europe, he added, “has not seen these kinds of troop movements since World War II.”
Poland’s sensitivities to Russian aggression are particularly acute after it spent the postwar decades trapped in the totalitarian Soviet imperium, and its sentiments are widely shared in Central and Eastern Europe.
Mr. Putin’s massing of troops has caused the United States to pivot to Europe, rekindled a NATO alliance focused on its original mission, and threatened the painstakingly built security of the continent.
Mr. Macron began the day in Moscow after a meeting on Monday with President Vladimir V. Putin, and he met President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Kyiv earlier Tuesday. “We want to continue the dialogue with Russia to avoid the risk of escalation and allow for de-escalation,” he said.
Earlier, Mr. Macron said that he had secured from Russia a commitment to “no degradation or escalation” in Ukraine, opening new avenues of negotiation on the “collective security of the European space.”
But the Kremlin gave a more guarded account. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, rejected reports that the two presidents had reached any agreement to de-escalate, and suggested that it was the United States, not France, that had standing to negotiate such a deal.
In a 45-minute conversation with reporters on the plane from Moscow to Kyiv, Mr. Macron said he had never expected “for a second” that Mr. Putin would make some grand gesture, but he felt he had succeeded in his aim to “freeze the game.” New York Times
