Feb 14, 2022: According to a report by AFP, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lands in Kyiv on Monday before visiting Moscow to try to head off a “very critical” threat of a Russian invasion that could spark the worst crisis since the Cold War.

Germany’s leader is set to visit the two capitals in the same order as French President Emmanuel Macron did last week in an attempt to quell the drumbeat of war in Eastern Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin has surrounded Ukraine with more than 100,000 troops, with the West in a stalemate over NATO’s expansion into post-Soviet Kremlin-held countries.

The West and its allies have remained united and defiant against Putin’s demands of security guarantees that would lead NATO to withdraw its forces and reject Ukraine’s possible membership in the alliance.

The US once again issued a warning of an imminent attack on Sunday saying that Russia was now ready to strike at “any moment” with an assault that would likely start with “a significant barrage of missiles and bomb attacks”. Even as Russia consistently denies any such plans.

“In the event of a military aggression against Ukraine that threatens its territorial integrity and sovereignty, that will lead to tough sanctions that we have carefully prepared and which we can immediately put into force,” Scholz said on the eve of his departure.

“We assess the situation as very critical, very dangerous,” a German government source added.

Both EU members, Germany and France have played a key role in mediating efforts around Ukraine’s Russian-backed separatist conflict in the east of Ukraine, which has killed more than 14,000 people. But Germany’s close business ties with Moscow and its heavy reliance on Russian natural gas imports have been a source of concern for Kyiv’s pro-Western leaders as well as Biden’s administration.

Charles Scholz warned Russia that it should not “underestimate our unity and determination” but also hedged against unilaterally backing Biden’s promise to “terminate” Russia’s new Nordstream 2 gas link with Germany.

“We assess the situation as very critical, very dangerous,” a German government source added.

Earlier this month, there was a spat involving the two countries after the tit-for-tat closures of the German-language channel of Russia’s RT network and the Moscow bureau of Germany’s Deutsche Welle.

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