On Saturday, Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor rejected Ukraine’s President’s request to sanction Russia immediately. He said that Moscow shouldn’t be certain “exactly” how the West would respond to an invasion.

Speaking to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at Germany’s annual Munich Security Conference, Scholz said that Western allies were “well prepared” to sanction Russia — and quickly — if it were to invade Ukraine. However, he stated that sanctions should be used only in extreme cases to resolve ongoing tensions.

It’s better to say that we do it when, rather than doing it now. This was in reference to the possibility of imposing sanctions against Russia. We want to move in the direction of peace having a chance.

Russia denied plans for an invasion in Ukraine. However, several Western officials claimed this week that Russia was actively expanding its military presence along its border.

Scholz did not specify what sanctions Russia could be subject to if it invaded Ukraine. Instead, Scholz stated that Moscow must know what sanctions Russia might face if it invades Ukraine.

This is in contrast to other Western leaders that have made particular remarks about how Russia could be hurt economicallyThis is most notable through energy sanctions.

They should not be made public, according to my view. “It is great for what we hope to get, that the Russian government cannot know exactly what we will do,” he stated.

They’ll know a little bit of what we’re talking, but it won’t be perfect.

These comments were made after Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, reiterated Saturday his call for sanctions and said that Russia should be stopped from being “appeased” by the West.

“We have a right — a right to demand a shift from a policy of appeasement to one ensuring security and peace,” Zelensky said at the Munich Security Conference.

In the 21st Century, there is no “this isn’t my war” concept. This does not concern the war in Ukraine. It concerns the war throughout Europe.

Russia showed off its military strength Saturday, in an impressive display launched ballistic and cruise missilesAs part of “a planned exercise of strategic deterrence force.”

Joe Biden, President of the United States said that Friday’s statement by President Joe Biden indicated that they believe Russian President Vladimir Putin could launch an attack against Ukraine “in the coming days.”

“We have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week, in the coming days,” Biden said Friday in remarks at the White House, noting that any such attack would likely target Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

The move comes after U.S. intelligence agency said that Moscow added approximately 7,000 troops at Ukraine’s frontier this week. This brings its total military presence to about 150,000. Russian forces were also deployed in Belarus, an allies that is to the north Ukraine.

Early this week, Russia claimed it was beginning to send some troops back to its bases. The president of Ukraine and Western officials cautioned against taking Moscow’s claims at face value.

Ukraine and Western allies have warned that Russia may create a “false flag” event — in which it would stage a real or simulated attack on its own forces — to create an excuse to invade Ukraine.

—CNBC’s Natasha Turak contributed to this report.