BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday a recent flurry of diplomatic efforts marked "progress" in helping to stop Russia from invading Ukraine, as he voiced confidence that war on the continent could be averted.
"The task is that we ensure the security in Europe, and I believe that that will be achieved," he told journalists at a joint press conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
Compared to some weeks back, "much has happened," said Scholz, underlining recent talks undertaken by Western allies with Russia on various levels. "That is progress," said Scholz, who will himself head to Kyiv and Moscow next week for separate meetings with Ukraine and Russia's leaders.
"The hope is that through this intensity and through this double strategy of clear unity and announcement of hard sanctions should there be military aggression, and at the same time, discussion formats," that tensions could be defused, Scholz said.
The German leader, who has been under fire over accusations that he has dithered over the crisis, stressed he was in agreement with allies including the United States on possible sanctions that could be imposed.
Scholz's failure to pronounce the words "Nord Stream 2" during his trip to Washington did not go unnoticed, with critics questioning how committed he was to ditching the gas pipeline meant to transport Russian gas to Europe should Moscow take action against Ukraine.
On Wednesday, he again shied away from mentioning the pipeline directly, arguing that together with allies, "we have decided not to publish the entire catalogue (of sanctions) and I think that also makes sense because we can gain a little bit of power" by remaining vague.
The Chancellor ramped up efforts to stop Russia from invading Ukraine, as Kyiv and Moscow said they saw 'positive signals' toward resolving the crisis.
French President Emmanuel Macron, returning from separate talks earlier this week with Putin and Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky, had said on Tuesday he glimpsed a way forward towards easing tensions.
The Russian leader had told him that Moscow "would not be the source of an escalation", the French president said.
While 100,000 Russian soldiers are still massed near Ukraine's borders, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said "diplomacy is continuing to lower tensions".
"The way the greater European community responds to this crisis will determine the future of European security and of each individual European state," he told reporters.
More upbeat noises also emerged from Moscow, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters that "there were positive signals that a solution to Ukraine could be based only on fulfilling the Minsk agreements".
German leader Scholz, who had come under fire at home over his dithering response to the Ukraine crisis, is accelerating his diplomatic pace to reassure allies that Germany would not be the weakest link among allies in standing up to Russia.
Less than 24 hours after his trip in Washington to underline his resolve to US President Joe Biden, Scholz late Tuesday stood alongside Polish leader Andrzej Duda and Macron to declare the Europeans' unity in their goal of averting war on the continent. - AFP/Reuters
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