US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf ScholzBERLIN, Feb 17German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden in a telephone conversation noted the importance of a dialogue on security in Europe, the implementation of the Minsk agreements, a representative of the German Cabinet of Ministers told reporters. According to him, the leaders of Germany and the United States noted that «in the event of further military aggression against territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine, Russia should count on extremely dire consequences.» German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, following talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 14, said that he had promised to submit draft laws on the special status of Donbass, constitutional reform and suffrage for discussion in the Minsk format for discussions in the contact group on Ukraine. Zelensky did not comment on these words at a joint press conference with Scholz. Western politicians, including US President Joe Biden, have repeatedly spoken out in support of the Minsk agreements. Biden, following talks with the Russian president in Geneva in June 2021, said that he had agreed to support the Minsk agreements at a meeting with Putin. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later said that Biden himself told the Russian president at the summit in Geneva that he wanted to help with the implementation of the Minsk agreements. agreements on Donbass, including with the autonomous status of the region. In addition, according to Lavrov, US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and CIA Director William Burns, during contacts with the Russian leadership, directly confirmed the need to implement the Minsk agreements, including the special status of Donbass. implementation of the Minsk agreements to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. Back in 2015, as vice president, Biden said during a visit to Kiev that there was no alternative to the Minsk agreements, and only by adhering to them, it was possible to achieve a settlement of the conflict in Donbass. At the same time, he called on the parties to fulfill the obligations assumed under the Minsk agreements. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stressed in January 2022 that the Minsk agreements include a number of obvious steps that both sides must take. He stated that Ukraine has implemented or started to implement many of them, but there are also some that it has not yet taken on. the exact timing of the «invasion» of Ukraine, said the State Department
