Biden says he plans to prevent Russian action against Ukraine Conflict News

The US president says he is making plans to make it “very, very difficult” for his Russian counterpart Putin to invade Ukraine.

U.S. President Joe Biden says he is preparing a “full” plan to make it harder for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine, as the two leaders are expected to speak out in the coming days, raising tensions.

The United States is “preparing the broadest and most significant set of initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Mr. Putin to do what concerns people,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday.

“He’s in the game right now,” Biden said, adding that he had not yet spoken directly with Putin about the crisis.

U.S. and Russian officials say a dialogue between the leaders could be scheduled soon.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, quoting intelligence reports, warned earlier on Friday that Russia had put More than 94,000 soldiers It is close to the Ukrainian border and may be preparing for a large-scale military offensive by the end of January.

The military uprising has raised concerns and warnings from Ukraine, as well as senior US officials and their NATO allies.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken he said Russia was examining “significant aggressive movements” against Ukraine and warned that the US would respond with “large-scale economic measures” if the Russian government chose a “path of confrontation”.

a after meeting In Sweden with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday, Blinken reiterated his warning that Russia would suffer “serious costs and consequences” if it invaded Ukraine.

“It is now up to Russia to put an end to the current tensions by reversing the recent build-up of troops, returning forces to their usual peacetime positions, and abandoning fears and attempts to destabilize Ukraine.” he said.

For his part, Lavrov said the U.S. had threatened new sanctions, but suggested that the effort would not be effective. “If new punishments from hell come, we will respond,” the foreign minister said. “We can’t fail to answer.”

In 2014, Moscow seized Crimea from Ukraine, and Russian-backed separatists seized part of eastern Ukraine, sparking the ongoing conflict.

Russian officials have previously stated that Moscow’s stance on Ukraine is a mere defense and has accused Kyiv of trying to recapture areas of force that pro-Russian rebels have in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials have denied the allegations.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov said on Friday that Kiev would do nothing to provoke a Russian attack, but was ready if it invaded Moscow.

Putin warned in a Moscow forum on November 30 that the deployment of NATO military infrastructure in Ukraine was a red line for Russia. Moscow has done it again and again warned the West Against the arming of Ukraine.

The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia and the United States had a tentative date and time for a video summit between Putin and Biden in the coming days, but that Moscow was waiting for Washington to finish.

A U.S. official has not confirmed a date, but Reuters told the news agency that the call is likely to take place next week.

Meanwhile, Biden said on Friday that he had a regular relationship with European and Ukrainian leaders between diplomatic actions as tensions between Washington and Moscow continue to escalate.

“My secretary of state and national security adviser have worked a lot,” he said.

Biden and Putin they met in June The first summit since the US president took office in January was held in Geneva, Switzerland. At a three-hour meeting, they agreed to launch a bilateral dialogue on “strategic stability” to reduce the risk of conflict between the two countries.

Biden also said at the time that he had called on Putin to respect human rights and political freedoms in Russia and expressed his “firm commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, among other things.”