Biden, Putin will talk again
Russian leader asks for Thursday’s call amid persistent uncertainty regarding Ukraine.
WASHINGTON — President Biden and Vladimir Putin plan to speak by phone Thursday at the Russian leader’s request in hopes of finding a diplomatic offramp to the volatility surrounding Russia’s military buildup at its border with Ukraine.
The call, which the White House confirmed plans for on Wednesday, will mark the second direct leader-toleader talks this month.
Despite Biden’s clear warning in a Dec. 7 video call that an invasion would be met with severe economic sanctions by the U.S. and NATO allies, Putin has maintained the heavy troop presence along the Ukrainian border.
“We are at a moment of crisis and have been for some weeks now, given the Russian buildup, and it will take a high level of engagement to try to address this and find a path to de-escalation,” a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters Wednesday.
An estimated 100,000 Russian troops at the border are fueling concerns across the region about a potential invasion of Ukraine that could draw a host of allies into a war.
“We continue to be gravely concerned about the nature of the Russian troop presence there and the capabilities that they have,” the official said.
Biden, the official added, planned to reiterate to Putin that a troop drawdown is the main condition “for there to be real progress in these talks.”
Putin, however, continues to push for security guarantees in Eastern Europe, and said earlier this week he would consider retaliatory options if the West stops short of guaranteeing that Ukraine will not be admitted into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Biden and other NATO members are unlikely to say explicitly that Ukraine will never join their long-standing alliance, which considers an attack on any member nation an attack against all.
Although Washington continues to provide Ukraine with millions in defense aid, the Biden administration, along with many European allies, is wary of guaranteeing the country’s future military defense — a reality not lost on Putin as he seeks to press his leverage.
The administration official also said they did not know why, specifically, Putin was requesting a second call with Biden, but that the president was eager to engage and would continue to push for a diplomatic solution while staying in close contact with allies.
The call will come ahead of planned talks between U.S. and Russian officials on Jan. 10 in Geneva, a meeting that is unlikely to include Biden or Putin, the official said. Meetings between NATO and Russia are to take place at the same time and include the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, an alliance that includes Ukraine.
The U.S. has been coordinating with allies to bring sanctions well beyond those imposed in 2014 over Russia’s invasion and annexation of the Crimean peninsula and its backing of separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine, the official said.
Ahead of the leaders’ Thursday call, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke Wednesday with Ukraine’s president.
Blinken reiterated to President Volodymyr Zelensky “the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s borders,” according to State Department spokesman Ned Price. They discussed resolving the conflict peacefully, Price said.
Moscow submitted draft security documents earlier this month demanding that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, and that the alliance roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.