Putin warns Biden against major sanctions against Ukraine: Kremlin | Conflict News

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told his US counterpart Joe Biden that sanctions on Ukraine will be a big mistake, a Kremlin aide said on Thursday after the two leaders spoke on the phone ahead of low-level talks next month.

The call, according to U.S. officials, began at 15:35 EST (20:35 GMT) and lasted 50 minutes, arriving in the middle. Weeks of Western Concerns Russia has deployed dozens of troops near its border with Ukraine.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Russia was pleased with the talks, which he said were focused The security guarantees that Moscow wants From the West, however, the heavy sanctions against Russia would be a “colossal mistake.”

“We hope that doesn’t happen,” Ushakov told reporters after a phone call.

It was Putin and Biden’s second time he gave live lectures this month, as the Russian military near Ukraine continues to mount fears that Russia is preparing for the immediate invasion of its neighbor.

In a statement describing Thursday’s talks, the White House said Biden had asked Putin to “discharge” the tensions on fire and “made it clear that the US and its allies and partners would respond decisively if Russia invades Ukraine further.”

The Kremlin has denied plans to join Ukraine and has accused Western nations of undermining security in the region through NATO enlargement and Ukraine’s growing ties with the alliance.

Prior to the discussion, both sides stressed that they were willing to listen. But Thursday’s talks set the stage for low-level and pre-negotiation talks in Geneva in January, with few signs of significant concessions on the horizon.

The White House also expressed support for Biden’s call for talks with Putin, adding that he “reiterated that significant progress in these talks can only take place in the scaling environment rather than escalation.”

Samuel Greene, director of the Russian Institute at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera that the US and Russia “must see that they are making an effort” amid tensions.

“This is an opportunity for Putin to claim victory, perhaps to show that the West is leaning a little, so that he can turn around,” Green said. “It is very important for the Biden administration … and for its European allies to do everything they can to make concessions that they cannot make, and to ensure peace and security in and around Ukraine.”

Talks next month

Earlier this month, the Russian government published a draft security agreement By demanding that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and withdraw its deployment of troops and weapons in Central and Eastern Europe.

But the US and its NATO allies have said that only members of the alliance can decide when other nations will join, and stressed that security talks with Moscow should take into account NATO concerns and involve Ukraine and other partners.

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, he said this week Russian diplomats and military officials will take part in talks with the US on a list of security assurances Moscow wants from Washington next month.

These talks in Geneva will take place on January 10, and representatives of Moscow and NATO are expected to meet on January 12. The European Security and Cooperation Organization, which includes Russia and the United States, will face the following tensions. day.

The Russian delegation will be Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, and the US delegation will be Wendy Sherman, Undersecretary of State.

Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blink The U.S. reiterated its “continued support” for Ukraine in a call on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, the State Department said.

United Kingdom Russia warned last week Any entry into Ukraine “would be a huge strategic mistake and would be fraught with force to impose a severe cost on Russia’s interests and economy, including coordinated sanctions with our allies.”

Putin he said Russia is not looking for war with its neighbor, but the US and its allies wanted to respond “immediately” to the demand for security guarantees.

Russia seized the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine in 2014 and soon sided with the country’s eastern separatist insurgency, plunging relations between Moscow and the West into the aftermath of the Cold War.

Fighting in the center of Ukrainian industry, known as the Donbas, has killed more than 14,000 people to date, according to Kiev.