heard it through the pipeline

Following a bilat in which the two world leaders agreed they are in “lockstep” as to handling the current Russia-Ukraine crisis, President Biden warned alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that any movement on Moscow’s part would be a threat to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

“If Russia invades — that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine again — then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Biden said during the joint press conference. “We will bring an end to it,” The New York Times reports.

The president did not detail exactly how that might happen, but promised “we’ll be able to do it.” 

Scholz did not respond with the same gusto as Biden did, opting instead to repeat a frequent refrain: “We are absolutely united.” Previously, the German leader “has been vague about whether he would agree to terminate the pipeline project,” the Times writes.

Scholz on Monday also reportedly did not use the pipeline’s name when asked about it, replying through a translator that it is best “not spell out everything in public,” but both the U.S. and Germany have planned out “far-reaching measures” in advance, adds The Independent.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is “meant to connect Russian natural gas supplies with Germany and the rest of Europe,” notes The Independent. It’s construction has become quite the issue, given it could serve as a Russian “coercive tool against Ukraine and other allies,” the Times adds.