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Olaf Scholz before leaving for Washington
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Shortly before his trip to the USA, Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated that German troops would be reinforced in the Baltic States.
"We are ready to do everything necessary to strengthen that," said Scholz on Sunday on ARD.
This also applies to air surveillance “in the Baltic and in the southern area”.
Germany has been the leading nation in the NATO operation in Lithuania for five years and provides around half of the 1,200 men and women in the multinational unit.
Apparently, the troop reinforcement has not yet been decided.
Scholz said he would talk to the heads of government of the Baltic states about it this week.
»We are ready to make decisions.«
Republicans call for halt to Nord Stream 2
Before the chancellor's visit to Washington, demands came from the USA for Germany to take a tougher approach in the Ukraine crisis.
"So far, the German government's actions in relation to Ukraine have been disappointing at best," said the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, James Risch, to the news portal "t-online".
He therefore demanded a clear commitment from Scholz not to put the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline into operation: “Public insurance by the Germans to shut down Nord Stream 2 would be a convincing and effective means.” Whether this would only be the case in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine was meant or independent of it, remained unclear in the report.
Scholz does not want to commit himself to the question.
In the event of an invasion of Ukraine, Russia would have to reckon with "very far-reaching, very tough sanctions," he said on ARD.
Nothing is excluded.
"Of course, Russia also knows that they can imagine what it is, but that it may be much more."
His trip to the US is not too late, said Scholz.
"You don't just go there to have a coffee, it's about making real, hard, important politics, which in this case is taking place in a very critical situation." It's about preventing a war in Europe .
Scholz still does not want to deliver weapons to Ukraine.
"The majority of Germans see it the same way I do," emphasized Scholz.
After his trip to the USA, Scholz will also travel to Moscow, among other places.
A report by the Tagesspiegel caused a stir on Saturday.
Accordingly, Deutsche Welle should not be allowed to accompany Scholz on his trip to Russia.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit then made it clear on Twitter that Deutsche Welle was allowed to come along.
"To avoid any misunderstandings: #DeutscheWelle has been invited to the Chancellor's trip to Moscow," he wrote.
When he travels in his government plane, the chancellor is usually accompanied by a group of more than 20 journalists who pay for their own plane tickets.
Demand is always greater than the number of seats on the plane.
Deutsche Welle, along with other media, was initially rejected for capacity reasons, a government spokesman for the German Press Agency said on Saturday evening.
In subsequent discussions with the broadcaster, however, a "constructive solution" was found.
Scholz claims to have heard about Moscow's cancellation of Deutsche Welle from the media
This week, Russia banned Deutsche Welle from broadcasting, ordered the closure of the correspondent's office in Moscow and the withdrawal of journalists' accreditations.
That's why the question of whether a reporter from Deutsche Welle could accompany Scholz had become a political question.
Apparently, the federal government only became aware of this at a late stage.
"Honestly, I heard about it from the media," said Scholz on the matter in the ARD interview.
The matter is perhaps a sign of how agitated things are.
"Something is being discussed technically by some people and before you can even deal with it yourself or even the responsible people can deal with it, some make a report out of it."
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