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U.S. President Joe Biden will warn Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at a “direct cost” if Russia invades Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official said the day before. a scheduled call between the two leaders.
Biden “wants to send a clear message to Russia that there will be real significant and direct costs if they decide to proceed with a military escalation” with Ukraine, the official told reporters on Monday on condition of anonymity.
The president is in direct consultation with US allies in the United States to prepare for a meeting with Putin on Tuesday, the official added.
Tensions between Washington and Moscow In recent weeks, there has been an increase in the number of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, fueling fears of a possible invasion and warning Russia of new economic sanctions in the West.
Biden and Putin will talk secure video conferencing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported on Tuesday.
The Kremlin said last week that Putin’s search with Biden would seek binding guarantees for NATO’s expansion into Ukraine.
The Russian president warned at the end of last month that the deployment of NATO military infrastructure in Ukraine was a red line for his government, and the country had repeatedly warned the West in favor of arming Ukraine.
In 2014, Moscow seized Crimea from Ukraine, and pro-Russian separatists seized part of eastern Ukraine, sparking a burning conflict that continues to this day.
Biden administration officials said on Monday that Biden would make it clear to Putin that “diplomacy is a responsible way” to prevent the crisis. “We are encouraging Russia to return to diplomatic channels, including to comply with the Minsk agreements,” the official said.
The Minsk agreements reached by Russia and Ukraine with members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe since 2014 call for a peaceful settlement of the border conflict in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas.
An official with the Biden administration added that the US is not looking for a direct military confrontation with Russia, but said that Washington will help its allies with more military capabilities if it invades Moscow.
U.S. intelligence officials say Russia has deployed about 70,000 troops near its border with Ukraine and has begun planning for a possible invasion early next year.
“Our goal here is to express diplomatically that it is time for Russia to withdraw its military border from the border, that diplomacy is the right way forward,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday afternoon about the Biden-Putin call. .
He added that the US would coordinate with European partners on “the economic sanctions and steps that could be taken if President Putin decides to move forward”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman told reporters in Berlin on Monday that there had been a “lack of transparency” and “increasingly aggressive rhetoric in Russia” from the Kremlin, “we cannot accept.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also last week warned Moscow Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Blinken and Lavrov met in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 2 to discuss rising tensions.
Lavrov said after the meeting that the US had threatened new sanctions, but suggested that the effort would not be effective. “If new punishments from hell come, we will respond,” he said. “We can’t fail to answer.”
For his part, Biden said that was the case last week handicrafts A “comprehensive” plan to prevent Russia’s attack on Ukraine to back Putin’s demands.
“We have long been aware of Russia’s actions and I hope that we will have a long discussion,” Biden told reporters on Friday. He asked if she accepted Putin’s “red line” in UkraineBiden replied, “I will not accept anyone’s red line.”
Ukraine is not a member of the NATO alliance, but officials have called on the United States and NATO allies to help prevent Russian military action. The United States has been providing military assistance to Ukraine by deploying advanced anti-tank weapons in recent years.
Meanwhile, Blinken is expected to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the convocation between Biden and Putin, a U.S. administration official said on Monday.
Bidenek will also continue with Zelenskyy in the coming days, the official added.
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