President Joe Biden will welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House on Monday to discuss Russian aggression against the Ukraine and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as tensions mount in Eastern Europe.
Scholz's visit comes as both Democrats and Republicans - along with American allies in Western Europe - have accused Germany of being 'missing in action' on Ukraine and expressed frustration Berlin hasn't done more to help its fellow NATO members in Eastern Europe as Russia builds up its military force on the Ukraine border.
Scholz has said that Moscow would pay a 'high price' if it attacks. But concerns have been raised about his government's refusal to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, to increase Germany's troop presence in Eastern Europe or to clarify which sanctions it would support should Russia act.
His decision to send 5,000 helmets for Ukrainian troops to Kiev drew much mockery.
The situation in the Ukraine - and fallout from any move by Moscow - is expected to make up most of Biden and Scholz's agenda. Among the topics of conversation will be a 'robust sanctions package' - U.S. officials said - that is being prepared to punish Russia should an invasion go ahead.
President Joe Biden will welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House to discuss Russian aggression against Ukraine and Nord Stream 2 pipeline
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz walks to the Air Force Airbus A340 on the military section of BER Airport, in Schoenefeld, Germany, on Sunday to head to Washington D.C.
The first of 2,000 U.S. troops to arrive in Poland following the Pentagon's announcement of additional forces moving from the United States to Europe in support of NATO allies
Service members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces drive a military vehicle during tactical drills at a training ground in the Kherson region, Ukraine
Scholz arrives in Washington as Russian President Vladimir Putin has assembled 70% of the military personnel and weapons on Ukraine's borders he would need for a full-scale invasion of the country, based on U.S. intelligence estimates.
Moscow has repeatedly denied it will invade but Putin's true intentions remain a mystery.
Meanwhile, the first of 3,000 American troops to deploy to Eastern Europe arrived in Poland and another 86 tons of U.S. weapons arrived in Ukraine.
Germany heavily relies on Russian gas supplies and is a strong backer of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that the United States opposes.
The pipeline is not operating yet but Germany has been reluctant to put it on the negotiating table - even as the United States has made clear the project is dead should Moscow launch an attack.
'One way or the other, if Russia invades Ukraine, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward,' Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan told 'Fox News Sunday.'
The $11 billion pipeline is being built to serve as a conduit between Russia and German. Germany depends on 50% of its gas supply from Russia.
'We have made our position very clear, which is that: If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward,' a senior administration official told reporters on a briefing call on Sunday night.
This satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows troops and logistics material support units, near Yelsk, Belarus, as Russia has moved troops from Siberia and the Far East to Belarus for sweeping joint drills
Ukrainian tanks drive during tactical drills as tensions rise
Scholz, in a nod to the criticism he's received at home and abroad for a lack of leadership on the Ukraine issue, told a German television station that he was open to deploying more troops to Lithuania to bolster NATO's eastern flank.
'We are intensively engaged with all our allied partners in the European Union, with the question of Ukraine, hardly any question occupies us more,' Scholz told ARD television station.
'It's about preventing a war in Europe,' he said, adding that his first meeting as chancellor with Biden would involve 'hard, real political work.'
The two men have met before - in Rome in October during the G20 summit while Scholz was still serving as finance minister.
Scholz also will meet French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish President Andrzej Duda in Berlin on Tuesday and then visit Russia and Ukraine next week. Macron will be in Russia on Monday as Biden and Scholz meet at the White House.
Biden on Sunday seemed to suggest Putin will not go with the diplomatic route as Moscow continues to demand concessions that U.S. and NATO will not make.
When asked what factors Putin is considering when making his decision whether to invade Ukraine or deescalate tensions in the region, Biden responded: 'I think things he cannot get.'
This likely references the demands the Kremlin has put forth, including that the NATO ban Ukraine and other former Soviet bloc countries from entering the military alliance.
As tensions rise in Easter Europe, the German-American relationship could become the pivotal U.S. partnership in the West as Macron is in a tough re-election campaign and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is struggling to hold onto his goverment amid a scandal over parties held during COVID lockdown.
In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal for eastern Ukraine in a bid to end the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists that erupted the previous year following the Russian annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.
The agreement signed in the Belarusian capital of Minsk helped stop large-scale fighting, but efforts at a political settlement have stalled and frequent skirmishes have continued along the tense line of contact in Ukraine's industrial heartland known as the Donbas.
A summit of French, German, Russian and Ukrainian leaders has been suggested. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed interest but Putin has not.
Scholz took over two months ago from Angela Merkel, the longtime German leader who had worked with four U.S. presidents. Biden and Merkel enjoyed a strong relationship.
Additionallly, Scholz and Biden will discuss Germany's agenda for its leadership of the G7 this year, their support for Western Balkan countries, and working to coordinate bilateral and multilateral responses to China's non-market economic practices and human rights abuses, U.S. officials said ahead of the meeting.
U.S. paratroopers landed near Poland's border with Ukraine on Sunday after Biden ordered last week the deployment of 1,700 soldiers to the country's southeastern region amid rising tensions with Russia.
Civilians participate in a Territorial Defence unit training session in Obukhiv, Ukraine
French soldiers take part in a major drill as part of the EFP NATO operation at the Tapa Estonian army camp near Rakvere; the "Winter Camp" exercise in northeast Estonia, just 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Russian border, included some 1,300 British, Estonian and French troops operating in extreme conditions
An elite group of U.S. paratrooper disembark from a C-17 at Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport in Poland on Sunday, February 6, 2022
U.S. soldiers are seen next to their vehicles outside the G2A Arena after arriving at Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport in Jasionka, Poland, on Sunday
Another 86 tons of U.S. weapons arrived in Ukraine in response to more than 100,000 Russian troops amassed along the country's border
The US suggested in letters that Russian inspectors can gain access to NATO bases in Romania and Poland (pictured above) to guarantee that no Tomahawk missiles are being stationed there. Comes as Pentagon announces 2,000 troops in the U.S. will deploy to Poland and Germany and another 1,000 will head to Romania from their base in Germany
Another 1,000 troops already in Germany will be repositioned to Romania, which borders the Black Sea where one of Russia's biggest fleets is positioned.
'I'm not going to speculate,' Biden said Sunday when he was asked if he would consider sending more U.S. troops to NATO countries if Putin doesn't deescalate.
And the latest shipment of weapons from the U.S. arrived in Ukraine at the weekend, with the 86 tons worth of ammunition delivered.
It is the eighth part of a $200 million shipment of American military aid that is being sent to help its ally.
Ukraine's defense minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted: 'The 8th bird has arrived in Kyiv. The weight of today's cargo with ammunition for our Ukrainian armed forces is 86 tons. Since January 22, our partners from the US have sent more than 650 tons of defense ammunition to Ukraine. To be continued.'
And National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned Sunday that 'we are in the window' where Russia could invade 'any day now'.
'We're in the window where something could happen that is a military escalation and invasion of Ukraine can happen at any time,' Sullivan said on NBC's Meet the Press.
'We believe that the Russians have put in place the capabilities to mount a significant military operation into Ukraine and we have been working hard to prepare a response,' he continued.
'President Biden has rallied our allies, he's reinforced and reassured our partners on the eastern flank, he's provided material support to the Ukrainians and he's offered the Russians a diplomatic path if that's what they choose instead.'
Sullivan concluded: 'Either way, we are ready, our allies are ready and we're trying to help the Ukrainian people get ready as well.'
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