BERLIN, February 6. /TASS/. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned about serious consequences for Russia in case of the aggravation of the crisis around Ukraine.

"We have made concrete preparations with our EU and us allies, we are discussing possible sanctions - very scaly and very tough sanctions, if necessary, although our efforts today are focused on avoiding this necessity," he told ARD before leaving for the United States.

When asked about possible sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 project, he said that nothing is excluded. He said that the sanction list may include "more than Moscow can imagine."

Recently, Western and Ukrainian media outlets have been echoing claims about a possible Russian aggression against Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier slammed such statements as "empty and groundless" and their goal is to whip up tensions. He stressed that Russia doesn’t pose any threat to anyone, but did not rule out possible provocations to justify the remarks in question and warned that attempts at using force to settle the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have the most severe consequences.