Olaf Scholz ventures to Ukraine and Russia amid warnings of war
BERLIN — Even before Washington warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was facing a daunting double mission to Kyiv and Moscow this week. In Ukraine...
View ArticleScholz, Zelenskiy play down talk of NATO membership for Ukraine
KYIV — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sought Monday to tamp down tension with Russia by suggesting that NATO membership for Ukraine was not on their agenda....
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War warnings and calls for unity: Just another day in Ukraine
KYIV — Facing Western warnings of an “imminent” Russian invasion and a hasty official call for a day of national unity, many Ukrainians Wednesday simply shrugged their shoulders and went about their...
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Ukraine warns West: Don’t fall into Putin’s NATO trap
KYIV — The West is mistaken if it thinks finding a compromise on Ukraine’s potential NATO membership will end Russia’s aggression against the country, a top Ukrainian government security official said...
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Ukraine’s nuclear lesson: Don’t trust Russia’s security ‘guarantees’
KYIV — Around 30 years ago, Ukraine handed all its nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for promises of peace from Moscow. Western powers brokered the deal. The promises proved empty. Now, Yuri...
View ArticleUkraine crisis prompts Germany to rethink Russian gas addiction
Never mind Nord Stream 2, what about Nord Stream 1? While Berlin shelved one pipeline linking Russia to Germany on Tuesday, the Ukraine crisis is prompting a broader rethink in Europe’s largest...
View ArticleGermany’s Olaf Scholz opposes inclusion of SWIFT in Russia sanctions for now
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suggested Thursday evening that he’s against including the SWIFT international payments system in new EU sanctions against Russia, insisting this option should be kept...
View ArticleUkraine gets SWIFT rejection from EU leaders
Faced with Vladimir Putin’s all-out war in Ukraine, EU leaders shied away from imposing all-out sanctions. Even as they agreed at an emergency summit to what they called a “massive and painful”...
View ArticleGermany to send Ukraine weapons in historic shift on military aid
Germany on Saturday reversed a historic policy of never sending weapons to conflict zones, saying the Russian invasion of Ukraine was an epochal moment that imperiled the entire post-World War II...
View ArticlePressure mounts on Germany to drop rejection of SWIFT ban for Russia
Germany is increasingly isolated in its opposition to kicking Russia out of the SWIFT international payment systems after Italy, Austria, Hungary and Cyprus announced support for such a sanctions...
View ArticleEU aims to coordinate arms shipments to Ukraine
The EU, which proudly self-identifies as a “peace project,” is planning a more assertive wartime role in helping Ukraine face down a massive Russian invasion — by coordinating shipments of weapons,...
View ArticleIn historic shift, Germany ramps up defense spending due to Russia’s Ukraine war
Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday announced a major boost to German military spending in the latest of a series of dramatic moves reversing decades of Germany’s post-Cold War foreign policy in just a...
View ArticleEU countries won’t send Ukraine fighter jets after all
Poland won’t send fighter jets to Ukraine, the country said Tuesday — the latest in a series of similar denials from EU countries that have highlighted early confusion about what the bloc’s new...
View ArticleInside Olaf Scholz’s historic shift on defense, Ukraine and Russia
BERLIN — At 1:49 p.m. on Saturday, February 26, Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, finally got the message he’d been hoping to receive for more than seven years. “We’re changing course,”...
View ArticleBig countries play down calls to waive defense from EU deficit rules
A push from Central and Eastern Europe to exempt defense spending from EU rules on budget deficits ran into resistance from other capitals on Monday, but has not yet been ruled out. The calls come in...
View ArticleGermany’s Scholz rejects calls to ban Russian oil and gas
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz today pushed back against calls from the U.S. and Ukraine for a ban on imports of Russian gas and oil as part of international sanctions on Moscow. “Europe has...
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Germany sticks with Putin for its oil and gas
BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday pushed back hard against calls from the U.S. and Ukraine for a ban on imports of Russian gas and oil as part of international sanctions on Moscow. One...
View ArticleGermany’s Lindner pushes back on new EU debt as response to Ukraine war
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner has pushed back on calls for the EU to issue new joint debt to fund boosts in defense and energy spending as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Asked...
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German defense investment will double country’s 2022 debt
Germany will incur at least €200 billion in debt this year, half of which is due to a special fund to boost defense spending amid Russia’s war against Ukraine, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said...
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Scholz: Russian energy ban would mean European recession
BERLIN — An immediate ban on Russian energy imports would trigger an economic recession in Germany and across Europe, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Wednesday. Speaking to the Bundestag, Scholz...
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