German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday said that a military aggression against Ukraine would have serious geopolitical, economic and strategic consequences for Russia, TASS reports.
"It’s completely clear for the federal government that further military aggression against Ukraine would entail serious geopolitical, economic and strategic consequences," Scholz said following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. He said that was obvious for everybody.
"It’s necessary to avoid this sort of escalation," the chancellor said.
On Tuesday, the chancellor held talks with Putin in Moscow. This is the first face-to-face meeting between the two politicians. Scholz's visit to Moscow is the culmination of Berlin's intensive diplomatic campaign aimed at a peaceful settlement of the crisis over Ukraine. Before going to Russia, the German chancellor visited Kiev.
There has been a flurry of statements in the West and Kiev lately that Russia could invade Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they were unsubstantiated escalation and that Russia doesn’t threaten anyone. At the same time, he didn’t rule out provocations to corroborate these Western statements and warned that the use of force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine will have serious consequences.
