West stresses joint stance on Ukraine following remarks by Biden’s “small incursion”, Reuters

By Sabine Siebold and Pavel Polityuk

BERLIN / KIIV (Reuters) – The United States and Western countries sought to project unity and a strong stance on Ukraine on Thursday, after US President Joe Biden suggested that allies be divided over Russia’s potential “small incursions”.

Biden dismissed comments at a press conference on Wednesday, saying on Thursday: “I have made it very clear to President Putin (Vladimir) that he has not misunderstood. If so, any Russian unit gathered will cross the Ukrainian border.

That invasion would be “met with a sharp and coordinated response, an economic response that has been discussed in detail with our allies, which has been made very clear to President Putin,” Biden told reporters.

His remarks echoed the efforts of other members of the administration on Thursday and Wednesday night as the White House wanted to receive suggestions that a smaller-scale Russian military incursion would have a weaker U.S. response.

Russia has deployed tens of thousands of troops on its border with Ukraine, and Western states fear that they are planning a new attack on a country that was invaded by Moscow in 2014. the list of requirements is not being met, including the promise that NATO will never accept Ukraine as a member.

At a news conference Wednesday, Biden said Putin hoped to launch some sort of action, and it seems that Washington and its allies could not agree on a response if Moscow were to stop a major invasion.

“It’s one thing to have a small invasion and then we have to fight what to do and what not to do, and so on,” the president said, adding that an invasion of Russia would be a “disaster.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy responded sharply on Thursday, tweeting in English and Ukrainian:

“We want to remind the great powers that there are no small incursions and no small nations. Just as there are no small dead and little mourning for the loss of loved ones.”

Biden’s remarks on Wednesday quickly sent his administration and allies in a position to control the damage, stressing unity.

“Whatever path Russia chooses, it will find the United States, Germany and our allies together,” said Secretary of State Antony Blink, who spoke at a press conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on a visit to Berlin. Great Britain, France and Germany.

“We urge Russia to take steps to de-escalate. More offensive behavior or aggression would have serious consequences,” Baerbock told a news conference.

NO GREEN LIGHT OF INVASION

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Biden’s “small incursion” comment was not the green light for a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “Do not hesitate if Russia makes any incursion into Ukraine, or on any scale, whatever it is, I think this would be a disaster, not only for Ukraine but also for Russia.”

Moscow, for its part, has said that threats of US sanctions are not reassuring.

Western countries have long publicly stressed their unified stance, with some officials privately disappointed by Biden’s remarks on Wednesday, although described as a blunder, it would not change Moscow’s calculations.

“It was not helpful, it was a gift to Putin, but we should not read too much. Biden has not given Moscow the green light to attack Ukraine. The West position will prevail,” a Western security source said.

Moscow presented a list of security demands to the West last week in talks that failed to make progress.

Western countries have repeatedly imposed economic sanctions since Russian troops took over and captured the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula in 2014.

But such moves have had little effect on Russian politics, and Moscow, Europe’s largest energy supplier, has estimated that the West will be severely hampered by a disruption to gas exports.

U.S. and European officials say there are strong financial measures that have not yet been tested. Germany has said it could stop Nord Stream 2, a new pipeline from Russia that surrounds Ukraine, if it invades Moscow.

But Germany could find itself in an unprofitable situation if Russia invades Ukraine, pitting Berlin’s main gas supplier against major security allies.

Meanwhile, Turkish diplomatic sources said on Thursday that Russia and Ukraine were open to the idea of ​​Turkey playing a role in easing tensions between the two countries, as Ankara proposed in November.