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Highlights
- Name between the two leaders got here amid rising worries by US, Western allies about Russia’s risk
- Russian invasion of Ukraine additionally would jeopardize controversial pipeline between Russia, Germany: US
- The Russian chief additionally proposed to elevate all mutual restrictions on diplomatic missions
Nose to nose for over two hours, President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin squared off in a safe video name Tuesday because the U.S. president put Moscow on discover that an invasion of Ukraine would deliver sanctions and massive hurt to the Russian economic system.
With tens of hundreds of Russian troops massed on the Ukraine border, the extremely anticipated name between the 2 leaders got here amid rising worries by the U.S. and Western allies about Russia’s risk to its neighbor.
Putin, for his half, got here into the assembly looking for ensures from Biden that the NATO army alliance won’t ever broaden to incorporate Ukraine, which has lengthy sought membership. The Individuals and their NATO allies stated that request was a non-starter.
There gave the impression to be no rapid breakthroughs to ease tensions on the Ukraine query, because the U.S. emphasised a necessity for diplomacy and de-escalation, and issued stern threats to Russia on the implications of an invasion.
Biden “instructed President Putin immediately that if Russia additional invades Ukraine, the US and our European allies would reply with sturdy financial measures,” U.S. Nationwide Safety Adviser Jake Sullivan stated after the decision.
He added that Biden stated the U.S. would additionally “present further defensive materiel to the Ukrainians … and we’d fortify our NATO allies on the jap flank with further capabilities in response to such an escalation.”
That might embody further deployments of U.S. troops to jap European NATO allies, the adviser stated.
A high U.S. envoy, Victoria Nuland, stated a Russian invasion of Ukraine additionally would jeopardize a controversial pipeline between Russia and Germany. She instructed the Senate International Relations Committee Tuesday that if Russia invaded, “our expectation is that the pipeline can be suspended.”
Putin’s international affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov dismissed the sanctions risk throughout a convention name with reporters.
“Whereas the U.S. president talked about doable sanctions, our president emphasised what Russia wants,” Ushakov stated. “Sanctions aren’t one thing new, they’ve been in place for a very long time and won’t have any impact.”
He described the presidents’ video convention as “candid and businesslike,” including that additionally they exchanged occasional jokes.
In a quick snippet broadcast by Russia state tv, the 2 leaders provided pleasant greetings to one another.
“I welcome you, Mr. President,” Putin stated, talking with a Russian flag behind him and a video monitor displaying Biden in entrance of him. “Good to see you once more!” Biden replied with a chuckle. He famous Putin’s absence from the latest Group of 20 summit in Rome – Putin took park by video hyperlink due to issues about COVID-19 – and stated, “I hope subsequent time we meet to do it in individual.”
On the White Home, Sullivan stated, “It was a helpful assembly,” permitting Biden to put out in candid phrases the place the US stands.
Because the U.S. and Russian presidents conferred, Ukraine grew solely extra anxious in regards to the tens of hundreds of Russia troops which have been deployed close to its border. Ukrainian officers charged Russia had additional escalated the smoldering disaster by sending tanks and snipers to war-torn jap Ukraine to “provoke return fireplace” and lay a pretext for a possible invasion.
U.S. intelligence officers haven’t been capable of independently confirm that accusation, in accordance with an administration official who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate the delicate matter. However the official stated that the White Home has immediately raised issues with the Russians about “resorting to their outdated playbook” by making an attempt to impress the Ukrainians.
The Kremlin, in a post-call readout, stated, “Putin emphasised that it’s incorrect to place the accountability on Russia, since it’s NATO that has been making harmful makes an attempt to broaden its presence on the Ukrainian territory and has been increasing its army potential close to Russian borders.”
The Russian chief additionally proposed to elevate all mutual restrictions on diplomatic missions and assist normalize different elements of bilateral relations, the Kremlin stated. Sullivan stated the leaders would direct their staffs to proceed negotiations on that.
The leader-to-leader conversation- Biden talking from the White Home Scenario Room, Putin from his residence in Sochi- was one of the crucial necessary of Biden’s presidency and got here at a dangerous time. U.S. intelligence officers have decided that Russia has massed 70,000 troops close to the Ukraine border and has made preparations for a doable invasion early subsequent yr.
Sullivan stated the U.S. believes that Putin has not but made a closing resolution to invade.
Biden was vice chairman in 2014 when Russian troops marched into the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and annexed the territory from Ukraine. Aides say the Crimea episode- one of many darker moments for President Barack Obama on the worldwide stage- looms giant as Biden seems on the smoldering present disaster.
Politically in Washington, Republicans are framing this second as a key check of Biden’s management on the worldwide stage. Biden vowed as a candidate to reassert American management after President Donald Trump’s emphasis on an “America first” international coverage. However Republicans say he’s been ineffective in slowing Iran’s march towards changing into a nuclear energy and has accomplished too little to counter autocratic leaders together with China’s Xi Jinping and Putin.
“Fellow authoritarians in Beijing and Tehran can be watching how the free world responds,” Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell stated from the Senate ground earlier than the Biden-Putin assembly.
Sullivan stated Biden and Putin had a “good dialogue on the Iran challenge” and known as it an space the place the 2 nations might cooperate.
“The extra Iran demonstrates a scarcity of seriousness on the negotiating desk,” the extra there can be a way of unity among the many U.S. and the events to the 2015 nuclear accord together with Russia and the European Union, he stated.
Trump, who confirmed uncommon deference to Putin throughout his presidency, stated in a press release that “Vladimir Putin seems at our pathetic give up in Afghanistan, abandoning useless Troopers, Americans, and $85 billion value of Navy gear. He then seems at Biden. He isn’t nervous!”
Forward of the Putin name, Biden on Monday spoke with leaders of the UK, France, Germany and Italy to coordinate messaging and potential sanctions. He additionally to spoke with them once more following his name to temporary them out the result. Biden can also be anticipated to talk with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday.
Putin apparently sees the present state of affairs as a second to readjust the ability dynamic of the U.S.-Russia relationship, analysts agree.
Past Ukraine, there are many different thorny points on the desk, together with cyberattacks and human rights. Earlier than the decision, Kremlin spokesman Peskov stated U.S.-Russian relations are general in “a reasonably dire state.”
“Russia has by no means deliberate to assault anybody,” Peskov stated. He characterised the Biden-Putin name as a “working dialog throughout a really troublesome interval,” when “escalation of tensions in Europe is off the dimensions, extraordinary.”
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