This set of photos, created on December 6, 2021, shows US President Joe Biden during the signing ceremony at the White House in Washington on November 18, 2021, and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the United Russia conference in Moscow in December. Year 4 of 2021.
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President Joe Biden will warn Russian leader Vladimir Putin that the United States is ready to take strong economic retaliation if Moscow attacks Ukraine, a senior administration official told reporters on Monday.
The video call scheduled for Tuesday will take place against the background of growing tensions, partly caused by the alarming deployment of Russian forces and defense equipment at the country’s border with Ukraine.
“These steps are in line with the planning we are seeing for the military escalation in Ukraine,” said an official who asked not to be named to discuss the details of Biden and Putin’s forthcoming talks.
“We have had extensive discussions with our European partners about what we will collectively do in the event of a major Russian military escalation in Ukraine,” the official said. “We believe that we have a way forward that would involve significant economic retaliation on the part of both Europe and the United States, which would cause significant and severe economic damage to the Russian economy if they chose to move forward.”
An administration official declined to say whether the United States would take direct military action against Russia in the event of an invasion.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has warned Washington and its European allies that Russian forces are being massaged on its eastern border, mimicking Moscow’s 2014 invasion of Crimea. The annexation of the Black Sea Peninsula provoked international outrage and led to a series of sanctions against Moscow. Shortly after the invasion of eastern Ukraine, war broke out between government forces and Russian-backed separatists.
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An unclassified U.S. intelligence document released to Reuters testifies to Russia’s military activity on Russian territory and the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula near the border with Ukraine.
Reuters
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“To be clear, we do not know whether President Putin has decided on further military escalation in Ukraine. But we know he has the ability to engage in such an escalation if he decides to do so. ” A Baiden administration official said.
“We have seen this evidence of Russia already in 2014, when Russia last invaded Ukraine,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin rejected suggestions that Moscow was preparing an attack on Ukraine and defended its right to deploy troops on its territory.
Ukraine has previously cited Russia’s aggression as an excuse to speed up NATO membership, the world’s strongest military alliance. Ukraine announced in 2002 that it would seek to join NATO. Moscow described Ukraine’s ambition to join the alliance as a “red line”.
Earlier on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the state of US-Russia relations as “deplorable” and reiterated Moscow’s opposition to NATO enlargement.
“The tense situation around Ukraine and NATO at our borders. President Putin’s initiative on long-term guarantees for Russia’s security will be discussed. All these topics will be discussed, “Peskov said at a press conference reviewing the call.
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“Of course, bilateral relations, which are still in a terrible state, will be discussed,” he added.
Last week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on Moscow to de-escalate tensions and reiterated that the Alliance’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity “remains unwavering”.
“Ukraine is an independent and sovereign state. Each sovereign and independent state has the right to choose its own path, including what kind of security measures it wants to be a part of. So it is up to Ukraine and the 30 Allies to decide when they want to participate. are ready to join the coalition, ” Stoltenberg said during a NATO meeting in Riga, Latvia.
“[Russia] “He has no veto or right to interfere in the process,” Stoltenberg said.
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