LAST UPDATE: 17:38
German Chancellor Olaf Solz on Sunday called on Russia to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and warned Russia that it would face sanctions in the event of an invasion, according to Reuters.
Soltz’s remarks come on the eve of a trip to Kiev on Monday and to Moscow on Tuesday for talks with the two countries’ presidents to secure peace, which faces a “very, very serious threat,” Soltz said.
“Military aggression against Ukraine that threatens its territorial integrity and sovereignty will lead to harsh reactions and sanctions that we have carefully prepared and that we can implement immediately, together with our allies in Europe and NATO.” said Soltz in brief statements to reporters.
A German government source said earlier today that Germany did not expect concrete results from Chancellor Olaf Soltz’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, but hoped to gain an idea of ​​what it hoped to achieve with military aid to Ukraine.
“The chancellor will make it clear that any attack on Ukraine will have serious consequences and that unity between the European Union, the United States and Britain must not be underestimated,” the German government source said.
Solz will tell Putin that the troop increase could “only be interpreted as a threat,” the source told reporters.
Bild: Soltz talked to Merkel
“The task is to prevent a war in Europe,” government spokesman Stephen Heberstreet wrote on Twitter on Friday night.
We do not know if Soltz really has any influence on the Kremlin leader’s decision, Bild reports, but Olaf Soltz has been preparing for the meeting for days.
One of his advisers is also his predecessor in office. Scholz exchanged views with Angela Merkel, as reported by Bild am Sonntag.
The former chancellor probably knows the governor of Russia better than any other Western head of state, Bild notes, and has met with Putin several times – in good times and bad. He knows the power games that Putin likes to play with his counterpart, the German newspaper notes.
Solz, according to the same publication, also invited various experts on Russia to the Chancellery and exchanged views with others by telephone. Scholz’s reading includes the book “Inside Putin’s Head” by former “Financial Times” correspondent Andrew Jack, writes Welt am Sonntag.
Source: Capital

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