The presidents of the United States and Russia held a telephone conversation. For more than an hour, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin discussed the gathering of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.
Biden has warned Putin that Washington is ready for diplomacy, but will respond decisively if Russia invades Ukraine. The conversation has not led to any significant change, and it is unclear whether Russia will take military action, a senior US official said.
President Biden spoke with President Vladimir Putin today to make clear that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the U.S. and our allies will impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Biden urged President Putin to engage in de-escalation and diplomacy instead. pic.twitter.com/HqK0b65kFm
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 12, 2022
Biden added that the United States and its allies would impose severe sanctions on Russia in the event of an invasion.
Yuri Ushakov: Biden and Putin have agreed to continue their contacts
After a telephone conversation between the presidents of the United States and Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov announced that Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin had agreed to continue contacts. “We will discuss the issues that Biden touched on today, and of course, above all, our concerns set out in the two draft documents (on security guarantees),” he said.
Lavrov accused the United States of campaigning for possible Russian aggression
Earlier today, French President Emmanuel Macron also had a telephone conversation with Putin. The Elysee Palace said the Russian president had said nothing to indicate that he was preparing to invade Ukraine.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinkon spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who again stated emphatically that Moscow was not preparing for an invasion. Blinkon stressed that diplomacy is still an option.
Biden has announced a date for a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine
“We continue to see many alarming signals, including new units arriving near the border with Ukraine. As I said yesterday, we are at a stage where the Russian invasion can begin at any time, if President Putin decides to do so. This includes the following days. “We don’t know if President Putin made that decision, but we do know that he has developed the capacity to act in a very short period of time,” he said.
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