US President Joe Biden will offer his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Thursday, December 30 a “Diplomatic channel” to emerge from the Ukraine crisis in a phone call – the second in less than a month – ahead of security talks in Europe which begin on January 10.
Joe Biden and Vladimir Poutin will address “Various subjects, including the next diplomatic contacts with Russia”, a White House spokesperson for security issues said on Wednesday.
The exchange will take place ” late in the evening “ Moscow time, added Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The White House said for its part that the call will be held at 9:30 p.m. (French time).
Joe Biden, who will meet with Vladimir Putin from his Delaware stronghold, will be willing to borrow “A diplomatic channel” but the United States, which remains “Deeply worried” of the presence of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, will also “Prepared to respond” in the event of an invasion, according to a White House official. Washington “Would like to see the troops [russes] return to their usual training areas ”, said this source.
Threat of sanctions
Joe Biden continues to consult “Its allies and partners” on this subject, said the spokesperson of the National Security Council, Emily Horne. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the one hand, and his French, German and British counterparts on the other.
The head of American diplomacy thus reaffirmed to Mr. Zelensky “The unwavering support of the United States for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine in the face of the military strengthening of Russia”, indicated his spokesperson Ned Price. Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, pointed out in a tweet that he had received the assurance of a “Full American support” for “Counter a Russian attack”.
With the French foreign ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Annalena Baerbock and British Elizabeth Truss, Antony Blinken then spoke “The importance of continuous coordination in order to deter any Russian attack on Ukraine”. The four heads of diplomacy reaffirmed the “Consensus” with a view to“Impose massive consequences and exorbitant costs on Russia” if applicable.
In a previous telephone interview in early December between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, the US president threatened his counterpart with sanctions “As he has never seen” in the event of an attack on Ukraine.
“Unacceptable” requests
Moscow, which says it is only acting in response to what it describes as Western hostility, recently presented two draft treaties aimed at preventing any expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including to Ukraine, and to put an end to Western military activities near the Russian borders.
This call will come two weeks before negotiations between the two countries scheduled for January 10 in Geneva on nuclear arms control treaties and the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border, where the West accuse Moscow of massing troops in order to ‘a possible attack. A sign that the discussions on January 10 will be bitter, the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov has already ruled out any “Concession”. The United States had previously warned that some Russian requests were “Unacceptable”.
These bilateral talks are expected to be followed on January 12 by a meeting between Russia and NATO, followed on January 13 by a meeting between Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), of which is a member. the United States, an American spokesperson said on Monday.
In reaction to a pro-Western revolution, Russia already annexed in 2014 part of Ukrainian territory, the Crimean peninsula, a maneuver which had already provoked sanctions against it.