Germany in pipeline warning

Germany’s new government suggested Tuesday that it would not hesitate to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project if Russia invades Ukraine after diplomatic talks on the tense military standoff collapsed last week.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Berlin on Tuesday to discuss the next steps after the talks in Geneva and Vienna sputtered, and said Berlin is willing to stop the pipeline if Russia attacks.

“There will be a high price to pay and . . . everything will have to be discussed should there be a military intervention in Ukraine,” he said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Moscow on Tuesday and told him that halting the pipeline built under the Baltic Sea to provide Russian gas to Germany and Western Europe was among the options to deter the Kremlin.