Biden, Putin trade warnings over Ukraine
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Thursday warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of a tough US response to any invasion of Ukraine, while the Kremlin leader said anti-Moscow sanctions would be a “colossal mistake”.
After a 50 minute phone call — their second in just over three weeks — both presidents indicated support for further diplomacy on the tense standoff between Russia and Western-backed Ukraine.
Mr Putin was “pleased” overall with the talks, foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov told reporters. A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the tone “was serious and substantive”.
But there was no disguising the depth of disagreement — or the dangerously high stakes on the fringes of eastern Europe — ahead of in-person negotiations between high-ranking Russian and US officials on Jan 10.
Mr Biden “made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine”, press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
Mr Ushakov, referring to Washington’s repeated threats of economic sanctions as a response to a Ukraine attack, said this would be “a colossal mistake. We hope this will not happen”.
He also said that Russia is looking for a concrete “result” in the January talks in Geneva, while the White House said it, too, wanted action — de-escalation by Russia’s massive military presence on the Ukrainian border.
“President Biden reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation,” Ms Psaki said.
Washington and its European allies accuse Russia of threatening former Soviet territory Ukraine with a new invasion. Some 100,000 Russian troops are massed near the border of Ukraine, where Mr Putin already seized Crimea in 2014.
Moscow describes the troop presence as protection against expansion of Nato, although Ukraine has not been offered membership in the military alliance.
Earlier last month, the Russians issued a sweeping set of demands, including guarantees that Nato not expand and a bar on new US military bases in former territories of the Soviet Union.
The US rejects what it calls a bid by the Moscow to dictate independent countries’ futures.
In a readout after the call, the Kremlin stressed that Mr Biden told Mr Putin that US offensive weapons would not be deployed in Ukraine. The White House, however, said Mr Biden merely reaffirmed existing policy.
“President Biden made clear that the US is continuing to provide defensive security assistance to Ukraine and is not introducing offensive strike weapons. This was not a new commitment,” a US official told AFP.
And US officials repeated warnings of blistering economic sanctions backed both by Washington and EU capitals if Russia does attack Ukraine further.
Mr Biden “laid out two paths,” a senior administration official said. “One is a path of diplomacy... and the other path is more focused on deterrence, including serious costs.”