Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, von der Leyen also accused Russia of disregarding the UN Charter, while NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appealed to the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry that the country should once more engage in dialogue with the NATO Council to prevent the conflict in Ukraine.
“The world has been watching in disbelief as we face the largest build-up of troops on European soil since the darkest days of the Cold War,” von der Leyen told the conference.
“We cannot let this stand. We are facing a blatant attempt to rewrite the rules of the international order,” she said, adding that Russian and Chinese leaders were attempting to start a “new era”, founded upon “the rule of the strongest [rather than] the rule of law, intimidation instead of self-determination, coercion instead of cooperation”.
Von der Leyen: a robust package of financial and economic sanctions has been developed
In case of an invasion of Ukraine, von der Leyen threatened Russia with a “robust” package of financial and economic sanctions in response to Russian aggression. “If the Kremlin strikes, we can impose high costs and severe consequences on Russia's economic interests,” von der Leyen said.
She added that “the Kremlin's risky thinking, born of a dark past, could cost Russia its prosperous future”.
Von der Leyen stressed that in the event of Russia’s state owned gas company Gazprom completely cutting off its supplies, the bloc is “secured this winter”, thanks to having diversified its gas suppliers.
“For the time being, we would be able to replace the Russian gas with LNG deliveries that we get from our friends all over the world,” she added.
(jh)
Source: PAP