Hours after Washington and its allies noticed that Russian forces could invade Ukraine at any time, US President Joe Biden and Russian Vladimir Putin talked by phone for an hour.
According to a note from the White House, President Biden was clear that, “if Russia undertakes a new invasion of Ukraine, the United States, together with our allies and partners, will respond decisively and impose a severe cost to Russia.”
Biden reiterated that a new Russian invasion of Ukraine “would produce widespread human suffering and would harm Russia’s position.”
The American leader was clear that although the United States remains prepared to participate in diplomacy, “we are equally ready for other scenarios.”
The conversation occurred shortly after Russia denounced that an US submarine violated its territorial waters in the Far East.
During the so-called Putin he told Biden that Russia will act to guarantee its safety in the same way that the US would act.
In addition, he pointed out that he expected concrete results according to the security concerns exposed a few weeks ago.
The Kremlin has communicated that he has almost finished reviewing the counterproposals sent by the US and added that he will soon announce his response.
During his talk, Putin told Biden that the approaches sent by the US do not take into account the key concerns of Russia. The Kremlin Adviser, Yuri Ushakov, regretted that the phone call took place in a context of “hysteria” in the West over
An imminent Russian invasion, which said it is absurd.
He also confirmed that Biden in the phone call warned Putin about possible important sanctions, but suggested that he did not emphasize it.
Biden and Putin was not the only contact between the two countries.
The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, shared a call of 35 minutes on Saturday with that of him Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Blinken emphasized that the road for a negotiated solution is still open despite the accumulation of Moscow troops, according to an official of the State Department.
The Russian president, and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, also discussed the crisis of Ukraine on a phone call that lasted an hour and 40 minutes.
According to an official of the French presidency, “so Putin has told Macron, we have no signs of what Putin prepares an offensive.”
According to the Kremlin, the Russian leader emphasized in his talk with Macron “the lack of will of the main Western countries to pressure the Kiev authorities to meet Minsk’s agreements. Putin sees that this lack of involvement was manifested in
The unsuccessful round of consultations of the political advisors of the leaders of the Normandy format held on February 10 in Berlin. ”
The call with Macron occurred days after the two leaders met in Moscow for more than five hours of conversations that did not bear any fruit and left a halo of distrust.
Macron found a different Putin than he had met at the summer residence of him in the French Riviera three years ago.
The Russian leader spent that meeting reciting grievances that date back to the end of the Cold War.
Putin denounces that the West has broken its commitments to Russia since 1997 with the expansion of NATO to include nations of the former Soviet bloc.
A Russian arcade ship chaired an American submarine in Russian waters in the Pacific after the submarine ignored a Russian order to go to the surface, according to the story of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which summoned US military aggregate after
This incident.
The submarine was seen near the Kuril Islands on Saturday morning while Russia performed naval exercises with its Pacific fleet and was ordered to go to the surface immediately.
It seems that the order was ignored by the crew of the US submarine, which led to the crew of the Fragata Mariscal Shaphnikov of Russia to use “corresponding means” not specified to make the ship leave.
Russia’s defense minister also spoke on the phone with his American counterpart on Saturday when, after the United States and other Western nations warned that the war in Ukraine could explode at any time.
