US President Biden (Joe Biden) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (Vladimir Putin) held an online virtual meeting on Tuesday (December 7). The United States stated that Washington is preparing a “strong response” for fear of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The United States stated that Biden expressed deep concern over the build-up of Russian troops on the border in the video conference and threatened to take “strong economic and other measures.”
Russia said it would not attack Ukraine. Putin accused Kiev of provoking and demanded assurances that NATO would not expand eastward and avoid the deployment of offensive weapons near Russia.
Russia’s TASS News Agency (TASS) reported that the calls between the leaders of the two countries were conducted through a secure video line established by previous governments, but the line has never been used before.
The opening screen showed Biden and Putin making friendly greetings, and then the talks proceeded behind closed doors and lasted about two hours. According to TASS news agency, Putin participated in the talks at his official residence in the southern resort town of Sochi.
After a video call on Tuesday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that if needed, Washington will prepare a concrete and strong response in the coming weeks.
“What we didn’t do in 2014, we are now preparing to do it,” he was referring to the Western response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
“There are many compromises between the two sides without accusations, but the president is very clear about the position of the United States on all these issues,” he said.
US measures include economic sanctions and other actions, such as sending additional troops to NATO allies in the region and providing defense materials to Ukraine. Sullivan declined to disclose possible economic measures, saying that the United States is more willing to communicate directly with the Russians.
But Sullivan said that the new pipeline to Germany, Nordstream 2 has not yet been put into operation, providing a “bargaining chip” for the United States and its allies.
“If Putin wants to see natural gas pass through this pipeline, he may not want to risk invading Ukraine,” he said.
Earlier reports stated that US officials had reached an agreement with Germany to close the pipeline in the event of an invasion. According to reports, other possible measures include restricting Russian banks to convert rubles into foreign currencies, and even cutting off Russia’s connection with the Swift global financial payment system.
analyze
BBC correspondent in the U.S. State DepartmentBarbara Plett-Usher
The Biden administration had hoped to maintain stable relations with Russia while paying attention to China, but the United States has taken the lead in confronting the Kremlin with regard to Russia’s potential threat to Europe.
Prior to Biden’s call with Putin, the United States continued to engage in diplomatic contacts with European governments. A few weeks before the meeting, US officials shared intelligence reports with Western allies showing that Moscow is building a large-scale military force on the Ukrainian border. This obviously convinced them that severe sanctions were needed to prevent another invasion.
This is the united front that Biden hopes to show Putin to convince the Russian leader that the cost of military operations will be higher than any costs he has faced in the past. He spoke with European leaders before and after the meeting to reinforce this.
The United States is still coordinating closely with Europe to finalize an unprecedented sanctions package. Once Putin decides to ignore this information, sanctions may be initiated at any time.
“Reliable Guarantee”
On the other side, a statement from the Kremlin stated that Putin emphasized that Russia should not be held responsible for the tensions because NATO is “dangerously trying to take over Ukrainian territory and increase its military potential.”
“Therefore, Russia is very interested in obtaining reliable legal guarantees to exclude the possibility of NATO’s eastward expansion and the deployment of offensive weapon systems in Russia’s neighboring countries,” the statement added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that despite the tepid talks, he expressed gratitude to Biden for his “unwavering support”.
The last face-to-face meeting between Biden and Putin was in June of this year, but apart from agreeing to resume the exchange of ambassadors and start a dialogue on nuclear arms control, little progress has been made.
In a conference call on Monday (December 6), the White House stated that the leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy have formulated a joint strategy that will take measures to “severely damage the Russian economy” once Russia launches an invasion.
Will war break out?
In 2014, Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown. In the same year, Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula that originally belonged to southern Ukraine and provided support to separatists active in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
The conflict in the east has continued to this day. Ukraine stated that Russia has sent tanks, artillery and snipers to the front lines of the rebel-controlled zone. But what is even more worrying is that there are reports that more than 90,000 Russian soldiers have assembled near the Ukrainian border.
Russia initially described the satellite photos of its assembly in Crimea and not far east of Ukraine as alarmist, but at the beginning of this month, an aide to the president stated that “we have the right to mobilize troops on our territory”.
Moscow accused Ukraine of gathering nearly half of the country’s army in the east, or about 125,000, and said that Kiev is planning to attack the separatist-controlled areas backed by Russia. Ukraine stated that this was entirely “nonsense propaganda” to cover up Russia’s own plans.
Although Russia denies that it will launch an offensive, Western intelligence agencies and Ukraine both believe that Russia may launch an invasion at some point in early 2022, the earliest in January next year.
However, Andrei Kortunov, director of the Moscow Think Tank International Affairs Council (RIAC), told the BBC: “If the military operations (near Ukraine) are carried out in a fair manner, it will not be Direct military action, but a signal Putin wants to send.”
He believes that Russia’s signal to Ukraine is not to act recklessly, such as regaining control of the Donbass.
Kortunov stated that Russia’s message to the West is to stop “infiltrating” Ukraine through NATO infrastructure (including new weapons).
Where is the conflict?
For a long time, Russia has opposed Ukraine’s approach to Europe. Its main appeal is that Ukraine should never join NATO and prevent the construction of NATO facilities on Ukrainian territory.
But NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg (Jens Stoltenberg) stated that “Ukraine and 30 allies will decide when Ukraine is ready to join NATO.” He stated that Russia “has no veto power and no right to interfere in this process”.
The United States has made it clear that it will be committed to helping Ukraine defend its “sovereign territory,” but President Biden said that the United States will not take military actions.
Currently, Britain plans to help Ukraine establish two naval bases, located in Ochakiv in the Black Sea and Berdyansk in the Azov Sea. The United States has provided Ukraine with equipment such as Javelin anti-tank missiles, and has sent two U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats to support the Ukrainian Navy.
However, the above actions, coupled with the recent deployment of Turkish drones by the Ukrainian army in the eastern part of the country against Russian-backed troops, and the West’s military exercises in the Black Sea, have annoyed Russia.
As early as July of this year, Putin published a lengthy article on the Kremlin website, describing in detail the history of Russia and Ukraine, and labeling the current Ukrainian leaders the implementation of an “anti-Russian plan.” He said that for those trying to get Ukraine into the anti-Russian camp, “they will destroy their country.”
Russia is also disappointed that the 2015 Minsk agreement aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine has not yet been realized. In the separatist regions, there is still no independent supervision of elections.