Wilmington, Delaware — President Joe Biden reiterated his statements that the United States and its allies would act “decisively” if Russia invaded Ukraine from President Volodymyr Zelensky in a call Sunday, as Russia massed troops along the border between nations.
This is the call on the issue in a week for Biden, who spoke Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The call from Biden and President Volodymyr Zelensky came as U. S. and Western allies were set for a series of diplomatic meetings to verify and defuse a crisis that Moscow said could simply sever ties with Washington.
“President Biden has made it clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia invades more Ukraine,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said after the call.
Psaki added that Biden is committed to the precept of “nothing about you without you,” the precept that he will not negotiate a policy that affects Europe without the input of his allies.
Biden has spoken of hitting Russia with economic sanctions if it moves to Ukraine, however, he said last month that U. S. military action is not on the table.
The Kremlin demanded that any further NATO EXPANSION exclude Ukraine and the countries of the former USSR. The Russians also demanded that the army alliance withdraw offensive weapons from countries in the region.
“If the clearly competitive line of our Western colleagues continues, we will take sufficiently good technical and retaliatory measures from the army [and] react firmly to hostile measures,” Putin told senior army officials at an assembly in remarks broadcast on Russian state television last week. “I need to emphasize that we have each and every right to do so. “
The White House rejected Russia’s demands on NATO, deeming them unfounded. A key precept of the NATO alliance is that the club is open to any eligible country and no foreigner has the right to veto the club. While there is little chance that Ukraine will be soon. Invited to the alliance, the United States and its allies will rule it out.
Zelensky said in a Twitter post after Sunday’s call that “peacekeeping in Europe, preventing escalation, reforms and removing isolation have been discussed. “
“We have unwavering support,” Zelensky said.
Senior U. S. and Russian officials are scheduled to meet Jan. 9-10 in Geneva to discuss the situation, to be followed by meetings at the NATO-Russia Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Biden spoke with Putin for about an hour on Thursday and told reporters the next day that he had warned Putin that his economy would pay a “high price” if Russia, which has massed some 100,000 troops near the border, takes additional action. opposed to Ukraine.
“I’m not going to negotiate here in public, but I made it clear that he can’t, tense that he can’t, act on Ukraine,” Biden said Friday.
Biden said he told Putin it was vital that the Russians take steps before those meetings to mitigate the crisis. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, describing the presidents’ verbal exchange last week, said Biden’s continued sanctions “could lead to a total breakdown in relations between our countries and Russian-Western relations will be seriously damaged. “
The effects of U. S. intelligence imply that Russia has been preparing for a possible invasion in early 2022, but White House officials say it’s unclear whether Putin ever made the resolve to press ahead with the military’s action.
Still, Biden said he was hopeful about the upcoming talks, and the White House said they would consult intensively with Western allies.
“I’m still hoping that if you negotiate, you move forward, but we’ll see,” he said Friday. “We’ll see. “
Putin’s forays beyond the army weigh heavily while M. Biden is comparing his next steps.
In 2014, Russian troops entered the Black Sea peninsula in Crimea and took the territory of Ukraine. Russia’s annexation of Crimea was one of President Barack Obama’s darkest moments on the foreign stage.
Relations between the United States and Russia severely broke down toward the end of President George W’s administration. Bush after Russia invaded neighboring Georgia in 2008, after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered his troops to head to the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that he feared Putin would invade Ukraine and that “there is still no point in the sanctions that Russia has never noticed will deter him. “
“Russia wants to perceive that we are united in this area,” Schiff told CBS’s “Face the Nation. “”I also think a difficult deterrent is to perceive that if they invade, they will bring (NATO) closer to Russia, push it. “more.