US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz touted their harmony on Monday in Washington in the crisis around Ukraine, but failed to speak with exactly the same voice on the highly controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
Read alsoBerlin's brake on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline
“If Russia invades (Ukraine), that means tanks and troops crossing the border from Ukraine, again. Then there will be no more Nord Stream 2. We will put an end to it”
, said Joe Biden about this gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany, already built but which has not yet entered into operation.
The American president, however, did not specify how the United States could cut off this underwater infrastructure directly linking Russia to Germany.
At his side during a joint press conference, the German Chancellor, pressed with questions on the subject, was not so explicit.
The United States and Germany are
"absolutely united"
on the sanctions to be imposed on Russia if it ever attacks, assured Olaf Scholz, taking care not to mention Nord Stream 2 by name. He nevertheless declared that in his opinion,
all possible measures of reprisal
should not be
"put on the table" from the outset.
Tense relations between Washington and Berlin
The Nord Stream 2 question has weighed on relations between Washington and Berlin for years, but it has taken on particular urgency with the crisis around Ukraine.
The United States has long argued that this infrastructure gives Moscow too much energy and strategic leverage.
Joe Biden was however convinced last year by former Chancellor Angela Merkel to suspend American sanctions which weighed on the project.
Read alsoNord Stream 2 gas pipeline: what future, and for what risks?
The American president nevertheless wanted to show his good understanding with Olaf Scholz on Monday.
Joe Biden assured that Germany and its leader had
“the full confidence of the United States”
, at a time when the German position vis-à-vis Russia is considered too cautious by many American commentators.
Olaf Scholz felt that the two nations could
"count on each other".
