he w world heritage 360. get the app now. ah ah, this is d w. news live from berlin tonight. the new german chancellor makes a 1st visit to the white house to reassure a worried washington chance or off sholtes arrived at the u. s. capital to lit, to deliver a message to president joe biden, at the u. s. in germany, or on the same page in this crisis, will bring you coverage of their joint press conference. why this out? meanwhile, french president, emanuel micron is in moscow for talks with russian president vladimir putin. i

crohn, it's amy to find common ground and to end fears of a russian invasion of ukraine. and that as dw news visits a frontline town in ukraine where residents who witnessed war before are trying to keep hopes of peace along ah, i'm brave golf, it's good to have you with his on this very busy monday. we begin with the u. s. in germany, the crisis over ukraine and a crisis of trust. today, german chancellor o sholtes met with you as president joe biden at the white house. this was showing his 1st trip to washington since taking off his back in december, a confidence building visit aimed at convincing the us that in the face of russian aggression, germany remains a reliable partner. before meeting biden sholtes reiterated that military aggression against ukraine would have a high cost for russia,

but germany's nato allies. and that includes the u. s. are unhappy with berlin's refusal to provide ukraine with weapons. shoulds, distressing that germany would coordinate its response to the crisis with its allies. isn't it happened until we are close allied, and would act in a very coordinated manner to most of the current crises? first and foremost, we have to deal with the tensions resulting from the russian true build up along the ukrainian border, lactic vented. ok. that's what i thought that germany, the u. s. nato and the european union. i an agreement. i think like that there will be a very high cost to a military attack on ukraine plane in the details of the customer. and we've got team coverage here of this important meeting in washington. joining me here at the big table is our chief political correspondent, mikaela cook dinner, and our correspondent oliver salad is in washington. oliver. let me start with you

. president biden is saying that we're working in lock step to further deter russian aggression in europe. so what are the chances that biden and schultz will find a joint solution to approach this crisis? well, this whole brand, there is a lot of pressure on all offshore. this 1st visit here. us sitting chancellor and washington d. c. and certainly also high expectations here in the wide holes. there are 2 core diplomatic issues over looking at right now. and number one is, of course, that military support for ukraine and germany here is reluctant to deliver weapon. it has been historically de la, reluctant to the, to deliver weapons to crisis prone areas. and then number 2 is that german reluctance again to give up more stream to the gas pipeline from russia that was just finished, but has never operated so far on both sides have emphasized their close partnership as we've just heard, we have not heard anything substantial coming out there from the wide holes,

the expectation is that all of shoulds deliver something specific with regard to nordstrom to or perhaps we are going to hear more of that in the press conference in a little while. because you know, the white house been saying now for, for weeks that russia could attack ukraine 80 day. now the, even we're using for a while, the word imminent to describe this attack where we haven't been hearing that the, from the german government. what is the german government's assessment of this threat of as to what it does also received that same intelligence from its trans atlantic part that the same time. and what the german government here is emphasizing that any talk of imminent conflict could bring about exactly that. and that's why we're seeing an emphasis by all have sites on diplomatic talks ahead of traveling to the united states. he stressed that the fact that talks are continuing again that it's back to the level of talking is a success in itself. but asked us mapped out there, there are some sticking points at where's the united states have described the know

seem to pipeline as leverage that europe has left. so it's keep stressing that everything would be on the table if there was an infringement new infringement. i must say because after russell already accepted the crime, yes, an incentive. and that would mean that everything is on the table, but he simply cannot bring himself to say that direct heights. i mean russian to germany would be in question he. he says it implicitly, but he won't spell it out. and it will be very interesting whether he does it here in germany, or she'll just being criticized for being the invisible chancellor. he's now in washington where you've got members of both parties in the u. s. congress saying either miracles gone, can we trust this new german government? do we have a new germany here? is there a trust deficit right now? is he going there to, to fix something that maybe he did not break? well, he said he came in to power on that very ticket of german stability,

macalester, stability style. now we're all learning that that is clearly a political brand that i'm going to mca witty, intrinsically hot for his self. and quite clearly, we are seeing vladimir putin testing whether it out lives on going to michael's time in office. and this is what he is up against at this moment. so what he sees as a steady hands kind of demons, stability, diplomacy and not rocking the boat with process something. also angle america was very reluctant to do in the past, although she organized sanctions against russia in 2014. and that is being interpreted as not very much a reliable partner this side. but it's also something that he himself says simply isn't true. he says that relations with united states are excellent. but ticket working level besides the i to i the, let's see what, how that comes out today. it oliver, we know that before the chance love for washington, he was warned if you will or use the word war and by the germany ambassador in

washington that you know, when you arrive in washington, you're going to face a climate where a lot of people are asking is germany still a reliable partner talking to me about what you're hearing on that side of the atlantic about this? now that's a cable. you're mentioning, the german ambassador, emily harbor sent to berlin in a brand. you don't need a lot of intelligence and a lot of secret information to see that the newspapers are full of it. there's a lot of talk on the national tv networks here and on the street, of course, on an unreliable german partner. and in part, that's correct, historically though, and we have to look at history when it comes to that weapon deliveries here from germany. and germany has always been reluctant to deliver weapons who crises, areas, and therefore of course, the u. s. administration is and cannot be surprised about that part of the story. and when it comes to not stream to of course, the expectations are but more justified. and of course they are the expect.

expectation is that germany would a distance itself from that pipeline. should russia invade ukraine, but as you've just mentioned, and as mikaela, especially as talked about germany is one of america's closest allies. and joe biden said that today as well. right? all of brazil in washington in our chief political correspondent, hillock of to hear the b table to both of you. thank you for this week of urgent diplomacy. it kicked off earlier today with french president emmanuel macro visiting russian president vladimir putin. during the meeting that cron said that he hopes the talks in moscow will start to build more trust between the european union in russia and avoid war. which in praise macros efforts to resolve this crisis. the world is watching this meeting and other diplomatic efforts, while more than a 100000 russian troops remained position near the russian ukrainian, border artless ganette, our chief international editor,

richard walker for some context to what we're seeing here. we've got a lot of high level diplomacy going on right now. richard, on all fronts. where does the french president, where does he fit into all of this? yeah, it's really interesting to watch, isn't it? brand are also in the context of what we've just been talking about there, about all of shawls in washington. now you have the french president, a manual in my court in moscow, and this is being interpreted, i think, is him claiming something of a leadership role within europe. now in dealing with this crisis. and that has a couple of reasons behind it. first of all, france is currently holding the rotating presidency of the european union. so it's partly in that role that he is in moscow right now, but also referring back to what that discussion just now about all of sholtes. because the reality here in germany is that all i've sholtes is a new chancellor, finding his feet are trying to fit into the very big shoes left behind by angle

america who was in office here for 16 years and, and really dominated the political stage here in europe, and had a lot of dealings, a lot of experience with vladimir putin. so imagine my, my con, kind of claiming that kind of like a 1st and foremost position in dealing with this, this great challenge of dealing with russia. plus you have an election coming up very soon in france. so my car probably hoping to improve his profile domestically by securing some kind of successes with vladimir putin because it carries also the risk that if he comes away with no such success, then it could come at some political cost to him in which we know that neither has firmly rejected any russian demands that ukraine will never be allowed to join the alliance. knowing that, knowing that make wrong can not offer that kind of promise to the kremlin. what can, did the french president really bring to the table to deescalate the situation?

yeah, it's a fascinating question, isn't it brand and, and nobody is really sure of the answer to it. but i think it can help sometimes to look at the situation that we have at the moment in the framework of sticks and carrots. and we've just been hearing it in washington, a lot of the discussions at the moment or about the sticks, the deterrent measures that the west is trying to line up to deter russia from taking military action against ukraine. that's primarily in the form of sanctions. the tougher the sanctions, the grace of the deterrent effect. the big of the stick is the thinking. what my quote, i think is emphasizing here is a bit more the carrot side of the equation. now it's interesting to see with the amino marconi not just recently but, but, but over a longer period of time, he's been the western leader who seems most open to striking a kind of big, grand bargain with russia. rethinking the, the security order that has existed in europe since the end of the cold war. my

cause analysis seems to be that putin is simply not willing to tolerate this security order that has been dominated by nato for all this time. want something new. now, if my core is interested in pursuing that kind of a direction of thinking, the concern among many european allies, particularly in eastern europe, is that that could mean concessions that could come at a threat to their security. so this kind of thinking that we're seeing from our call certainly has a lot of european allies getting a little bit jumpy, wrote our chief international richard walker. richard, as always, thank you. with the german foreign minister handling to burbock, she has issued some strong warnings that a russian invasion of ukraine would trigger unprecedented sanctioned during a visit to keep fair. bach stressed the need, however, to avoid further escalation. berlin has been criticized for its response to

russia's treat, build up on your grades border while other nato countries have delivered weapons to ukraine. the german government has ruled out such a move. instead sending helmets up their bach is scheduled to visit the front line between ukrainian forces and russian back separatists in the don't bass region. on tuesday dw who responded mathias, berlin is covering the story for is from the region he traveled to eastern ukraine . your areas controlled by russian backed separatist. he sent us this report the village school of ram youth met the last village here on ukrainian control territory is close to the frontline. it has come under fire before now the classrooms i m t not because of the war, but because of new cov, it restrictions the war is something people have been living with for 8 years. they will not on board the push, not that they did, they began to wire commerce at the time the children go to school the to the speech,

but we don't know what will happen in 5 or 10 minutes. but to morrow, nice war. so moral is worried that the car always scared saperstein listed are just a few 100 meters down this road is the last ukranian position. who is in the line, the fi of the opposite side. there is a heavy military presence immigrant. a cease high is in place, but shelling can sometimes be heard at night. loses i am good as co disco saturday. we already know who shoots and when. so we just sit at home because it was worth a few years ago. we always hit in the cellar when there was fighting it. sure, but that was then the shell. is it the key to lovely? but with the latest russian build up,

a bigger escalation is on the table again. was completed on the cell. when things come down, we bought a house here, hopefully chosen, but now we don't know what will happen. we don't ship ukrainian control territory ends with the last houses of the village. behind a small river lies the demilitarized strip. the pedestrian bridge is the only link to the next village in the so called grey zone was short. the next village is not small. people come here every day to work. and kids go to school. one of the people who crosses the border every day is teacher louis miller car truck. she is from across the river and does not want to give her you name because her life depends on good relations with both sides. shelling is even more frequent in her village there

on board. the yell was on that of my work is here. i come here every day. yes, it's hard. yes, it's dangerous, very dangerous. let. well, i cannot just quit work and leave. i just can't put this li lymph. she says she has not yet lost hope that somehow this conflict might come to an end peaceful. and the w. c. political editor, michaela griffin, she's back at the big table with me. they'll let, let us talk about weapons for a moment to you. in the past, germany as a, even as a member of nato has been able to get out of being pushed into cindy weapons anywhere. that doesn't seem to be the case in this crisis. you've got members of the u. s. congress. you've got people in london saying germany should walk the walk with us. but that's not what is happening isn't. no, that's something that germany is categorically ruling out. although it did in the

past on the pest maga. so there are exceptions to the delivery of weapons into a conflict region, but it is now sticking by this principle. and it almost feels like there's a different currency germany has, in terms of approaching this diplomatically to the united states. that simply doesn't seem to convert because what germany has announced today is that it will strengthen its battle group in lithuania and send an extra $350.00 soldiers. it leads that nato battle group. it actually has a very large engagement within nato. the largest one currently active at the same time, it's getting the bad press and not simply because the numbers are also so different . the united states us and 2000 extra soldiers at to europe over the stand off, essentially with russia in ukraine. germany is the largest donor for ukraine, almost 2000000000 years have been spence it since 2014. it is building infrastructure, the structure there. but at the same time,

when it comes down to it, people want to see acts in the united states. and it's senate is because after all, and go by, there's also under pressure a himself a domestically to really get his allies to take on more responsibility. and that is exactly what all of salt will have to explain today. and schultz is also under pressure though, because all the poll showed that a majority of germans are not in favor of city weapons to ukraine. that is true, and that is his, the because of germany is very dark past it is in the public is adamantly against weapons exports, which actually sees the government on the defensive, on this pretty much every year. one of the latest report comes out and particularly via us into sensitive regions like the middle east, like egypt, for instance. and so also a very fine line to tread domestically. at the same time when i saw it has a bigger issue here because the hash tag in recent weeks was where is all f. so it was off. so it's here in germany because he spoke very little publicly,

particularly about this conflict. and because he's also very evasive in interviews, he clearly has an agenda what he wants to say and what he doesn't want to say. and he does not want to talk about no strings. he does not want to talk about his in a posse feelings with the social democrats who are seen as much more. russia friendly, much more open to russia than many other members of his 3 party coalition, particularly the greens feel comfortable with it. we want to sort of, you know, if you're just joining us right now, we are waiting for this joint press conference to begin at the white house. you see there's a live shot right there from inside the white house. we're going to bring that to you. when it begins, we're expecting it to begin any moment. now mikaela what we're watching and waiting . let's talk about the invisible chancellor. oh, i'm sure he's been accused of since taking power in december of kind of being missing in action and particularly in this crisis. and it's got them into trouble,

or at least a lot of criticism here in germany, but it's not helping him in the united states either is no it after the duty isn't because at the same time he is also in the united states, but overall wants to show that there is not an inch between any of the nato allies, that nato is completely united on this. and at the same time, he is leaving some room for maneuver to interpret, to interpret particular what he says on the new hosting to pipeline. because it is also something that was launched by a former social democrat. sounds like you know how to do it. so there's a historic, there's a party legacy to this which ruffled feathers within his own party. so he doesn't seem to really be free from this kind of interpretation of the new hosting to pipeline not justice as strategic leverage, but almost a lifeline to russia. to continue dialogue with many parts of his party. stressing

that there needs to be a way to find cohabitation with russia, not a tough line on russia, and that's exactly what united states and other nato allies, particularly also the baltics off poland, according for at this moment in time, because they are very much afraid. you wish it could be a wall or a fly on the wall in this face to face meeting inside the oval office between the transfer and the you as president. i've been reading a lot of commentary that, that says schultz has to convince the president that job these commitment to nato commitment to the trans atlantic relationship is as steadfast and as firm as ever give me your take on his ability to do that. if the working relations are as good as his government claims, that probably isn't that difficult. what he lacks is a sense of making an announcement where he wants to take germany's line on this and

where he wants to define leadership. let's just contrast him on my call and him actually within the last 24 hours in mano mccall heads to moscow and says he's looking. he's seeking some kind of historic moment with flooding and putting to resolve this. while that he recognizes that there is an issue, clearly he and maps out that the balance of security is an issue that needs to be discussed. now really, that's not exactly the nato line right now, but it open space for dialogue at the same time. and he gets a lot of praise from putin then we have all i saw is traveling the other way, being on the defensive when sitting down in front of the fire in the oval office. and to really show that kind of unity. so you have will have, so it's on defensive and you have someone who is perceived as in the lead on this

amount of my call promising historic outcome. whether that actually happens is quite something else, but it's someone claiming where they want to be. and just an illustration, what the german government is not doing while it is a financing the power supply, the power network, picky with a view on renewables in ukraine. it is not announcing an aim to connect ukraine to the european power grid, nor is the you defining a common line on that. that is something very technical, but it would be strategic at the same time. that is something that is completely out of the scale of delivering weapons is something sure and peaceful. but it's a declaration, a goal that is not being defined right now inside the as if the was president says to chancellor. so, you know, you guys, you know, have to get on board a 100 percent. can't sholtes say, well, we are, but we're walking

a fine line here. a quarter of our natural gas comes right now from russia. so let's say we turn the tabs off and we're going to be hit hard. the united states doesn't have to worry about that. so germany does have economic interest to worry about unprecedented economic shocks that would take place that the united states does not have to worry about. that's true. but on the other hand, that's also an economic opportunity for the united states who would wanted to see germany build will. and l n g terminals for a very long time. i want to know that you're actually working so that the united states can export gas to germany and europe via germany. so there, there are different aspects to this. i'm what it was. so it's a stress is that while germany may not be delivering weapons, it is also taking a military lead elsewhere in the baltic states. now later this week, he will meet with baltic leaders. germany has just announced that it will bolster

its presence. that leads a battle group in the region. so while germany shies away from a direct confrontation with russia by supplying ukraine with german weapons, which could see german weapons face off russian soldiers on the other side, which historically is unbearable for a german government right now. i dare say for german public. now the counter argument why ukraine has requested weapons is, well, germany was also on the other side and committed atrocities in ukraine was the historic responsibility that, though do many decides to keep out of this argument completely while trying to demonstrate maximum solidarity with its data partners. just doing that elsewhere, just doing that in the bull, takes it to certain degree and within native territory. that's very important. we want a reminder of you as to what we're looking at a live picture from inside the white house. we are expecting this joint press conference between the us president and the german chancellor to begin any moment

now. it looks like it says they're getting ready for that to happen. and let me ask you, because while we're on this, keep this picture up because i think they're going to start at the moment. now, why can't chancellor schultz the go inside the oval office and say, you know, less, less acknowledge ukraine's sovereignty. but at the same time will acknowledge rushes national security interests. and why can't we say we will? there'll be a moratorium or a freeze on any type of expansion for a certain amount of time. why, why is that not on the table? well, this simply a simple answer is that russia had already signed off on, allowing me to, to expand and signed off on every country to determine its own future. so if you crane decided to want to do that, it should be able to. so why should and nato give up on a principal at the same time you crank, couldn't join nato at this point in time anyway,

because there's an act of conflict on its territory. so it's not possible that is something that russia has effectively blocked already. i think it's worth listening out to what flooding of putin keep saying, and he actually said to my call today that he wants to solve the crisis related to providing equal security in europe for a serious historical perspective. now equal security, that definition is quite something else for vladimir putin than it is for nato and the european union and the united states right now, despite the fact that this is something that already had been sealed, it had been agreed by both sides. so here we see a russian president wanting to redefine what he, what he describes the balance he sees an imbalance. that is, that is not the perception of nato a tool. so how do you bridge that gap? and in hearing the german debate, we often talk about it the whole calissa. and maybe you can translate it from me. it's like a, it's a threat. and a pretext, will you be like a pretext for,

but it's a backdrop of a threat, but it's not the real threat. it's not the real saying, okay, it says is something used in theater, or used in the movies to kind of pretend strengths. and that clearly is not enough to deal with. i didn't put in right now, and now you will see. and as the united states, nato play hardball and clearly we saw and emmanuel mccaul, yeah. open a bit of space for maneuver today. and i think you'll be very interesting what comes out of that. he will actually be brief, his partner's afterwards. and what that line is, and we can only guess from the outside, but now i'm wondering too, how shine it fits into this. we saw this display of almost a bro man between the chinese president the russian president on the eve of the winter olympics. and how does it apply them to biden and sholtes? you know, when they're sitting down, they can look at, they can say each say,

you know, our respective economies are incredibly interlinked with the chinese economy now. oh, so does that put them more in the same boat and dealing with russia, or does that mean? do the germans feel like they're being forced even more now? to choose? not only to be against russia, but also maybe eventually to be against china as well. well, this is a question that i'm going to michael avoided rather successfully for one and a half decades. and that is something that we'll have. so it's confronted with right now. what we've seen in the winter olympics is flooding with food and she's in pain. clearly agreeing that nato was a threat, getting the chinese to publicly agree on this is quite something. now their interests are more in south china sea than in europe. but of course, china is watching very closely at weather. russia manages to weaken the european union, in particular, matters to weaken the strength and the nato countries sticking together. i think an

interesting question is whether russia really will get a better do strategic deal if it teams up with china for now. and then discovers that china may have interest that don't really telling with rushes interest in the middle or long run. but that's quite a different question right now. of right now they are both teaming up and germany particularly is family sitting between the tears because it has very large economic interests with china quite clearly. which do not tell with in, with the united states. it was very interesting that what i saw, it's actually actually named this when he spoke to the world economic forum. and he said that europe would have to also find its own interest that don't between china and the united states. something under michael would never have said, because he did not want to go there politically. but of course, china knows full well that germany will be reluctant or simply one.