As the standoff between Russia and the West enters a potentially decisive phase, President Biden meets today at the White House with Germany’s new chancellor, whose willingness to confront Moscow alongside the United States has been called into question.
Olaf Scholz took office in December, succeeding a towering figure in global politics — Angela Merkel — whose absence during the current crisis is being felt on both sides of the Atlantic.
Scholz arrives in Washington as Russian President Vladimir Putin has assembled 70% of the military personnel and weapons on Ukraine’s borders he would need for a full-scale invasion of the country, based on US intelligence estimates — though no one seems to know what his true intentions might be.
Amid the uncertainty, Biden is eager to demonstrate western unity against Putin’s aggression. Ahead of the President’s meeting with Scholz, US officials said the two leaders would spend most of their time together discussing the Ukraine matter, including a “robust sanctions package” being prepared to punish Moscow should an invasion go ahead.
The dire facts on the ground have lent Monday’s meeting in the Oval Office the air of crisis talks, though Biden also hopes to use the session to get to know Scholz personally, given they are likely to spend a lot more time together in the years to come.
They have met once before, when Merkel brought Scholz along to October’s Group of 20 summit, but never as equals. Biden has sought to repair ties to Germany after former President Trump publicly accused the country of shirking its international obligations.
Looming over the meeting, however, is the question of Scholz’s resolve to confront Putin. Among the United States’ major European allies, Germany has appeared the most reluctant to commit to lethal aid, sending thousands of helmets instead of weapons and refusing to allow another NATO ally, Estonia, to send German-made howitzers to Ukraine.
Germany has not joined the United States, France, Spain and other allies in bolstering troops along NATO’s eastern flank. And Scholz hasn’t spelled out in any details what sanctions he might be willing to impose on a country that is still a major trading partner for Germany.
Read more about the meeting here.
