The phone talks were held at Putin’s request and lasted for 50 minutes. The head of the American Administration warned the Kremlin about serious costs and consequences in case of the invasion of Ukraine, according to the press service of the White House.
In an official statement, a White House official said, “The President made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.
“President Biden also expressed support for diplomacy, starting early next year with the bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue, at NATO through the NATO-Russia Council, and at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
“President Biden reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation.”
During the phone call President Biden warned Putin that sanctions would follow in case of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin believes that President Biden is ready to continue a dialog with Vladimir Putin. According to Yuri Ushakov, the foreign policy adviser to the Russian President, “it is very important that President Biden stressed several times during the phone call that a nuclear war cannot be started and it cannot be won either.”
Ushakov also said that Biden had assured Putin that the United States would not deploy its offensive weapons in Ukraine.
Analysts point to certain tension in the tone and tenor of the talks between the two presidents. Thus, commenting on Putin’s reaction to America’s threat to impose unprecedented sanctions against Russia, Ushakov quoted the Russian President as saying “new sanctions could lead to a complete breakdown in ties between our countries and cause the most serious damage to relations between Russia and the west.”
Reminder: On December 7, the presidents of the United States and Russia held a closed video conference. Biden warned the President of the Russian Federation about serious economic consequences in the event of military escalation on the border with Ukraine.
In a statement made after the video conference, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated that President Biden had refused to make any concessions to Moscow regarding Ukraine’s prospects to join NATO. According to Sullivan, the United States promised additional defense aid to Ukraine.
On December 9, President Biden called Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. As the White House stated following the conversation of the two leaders, Biden had supported the principle “to make no decisions and hold no discussions about Ukraine without Ukraine.”
On December 17, the Foreign Office of the Russian Federation published the draft treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States about legally-binding guarantees and a draft agreement on measures to ensure the national security of Russia and NATO member-countries.
For instance, Russia proposes NATO not to accept Ukraine as a member of the Alliance and to refrain from “conducting any military activity in the territory of Ukraine.” Also, the Russian Federation calls the United States not to create military bases in the former Soviet republics and not to accept them as new NATO members.
The agreement has been reached that representatives of the United States and Russia will have a security meeting in Geneva on January 10 to discuss activities of the two countries in the military sphere and the escalating tension around Ukraine.
The security meeting will be followed by a Russia-NATO session on January 12. And next day, January13, a broader conference including Moscow, Washington and other European countries will be held within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The newspaper Voice of Ukraine
