February 19, 2022

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday rejected calls from Ukraine’s president to sanction Russia now, saying that Moscow should not be sure “exactly” how the West will respond to a potential invasion.

Speaking to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at Germany’s annual Munich Security Conference, Scholz said that Western allies were “well prepared” to sanction Russia — and quickly — if it were to invade Ukraine. But he said that such measures should remain a last resort in the hopes finding of a peaceful resolution to ongoing tensions.

“It’s better to say we do it then, instead of doing it now, because we want to avoid the situation,” he said, referring to imposing potential sanctions on Russia. “We want to go in the direction where peace is having a chance.”

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