US President Joe Biden will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone today. During the meeting, Biden is expected to seek a diplomatic solution to the escalating tension as Russia began sending troops to the Ukrainian border.
“We are ready to move forward on the path of diplomacy,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters on Wednesday. “But we are also ready to respond if Russia moves towards an invasion of Ukraine,” he said.
The meeting, which will take place at the request of Russian President Putin, will be the second phone call between the two leaders this month.
Following the meeting, which will take place at the request of Russian President Putin, high-level talks will be held in Geneva on January 10 between the United States and Russia. Neither leader is expected to attend these talks.
The bilateral security talks to be held in Geneva will be led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and US Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.
What message will Biden send to Putin?
Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told Voice of America, “Biden is right to accept the phone call request from Putin. If the request for a meeting came from Putin, he must deliver a message. But Biden must also deliver his own messages.”
“Secondly, Biden should convey to Putin that the Ukrainians should be at the table in the discussion on Ukraine’s security and sovereignty. Europe may need a new Helsinki process. However, it does not need a second Yalta process,” he said.
“As an alliance, we have a common stance”
A spokesperson for the National Security Council told Voice of America that the United States is relying on its allies in the region to reach a diplomatic solution.
The spokesperson said, “As an alliance, we have a common stance on the consequences that Russia will face if it takes action on Ukraine. We also agree on conducting principled diplomacy with Russia. “We will also adhere to the principle that without our allies and partners, including Ukraine, no decision will be made about them,” he said.
Biden administration officials have refused to respond to Moscow’s demands, which include NATO not accepting Ukraine as a member and reducing the alliance’s military presence in Central and Eastern Europe.
US official: “We have no plans to publish a draft document like Russia”
“We think we can make progress by sitting behind closed doors at the negotiating table and in consultation with our allies and partners,” a senior Biden administration official said on Wednesday. That’s why we don’t have plans to issue a draft agreement or document like the Russian side did,” he said.
Earlier this month Moscow, Ukraine and other ex-Soviet countries should not be members of NATO; He had sent draft security documents demanding a step back in his military elements in Central and Eastern Europe.
The United States and its allies, on the other hand, refused to give Russia assurances on Ukraine as Putin had demanded, emphasizing the principle that NATO is open to any country that fulfills the conditions for membership.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a press conference on Thursday, “During the talks, we will demand legal assurances regarding Russia’s security by the United States. In other words, we will ask for assurance that NATO will not expand eastward and that the weapons systems that threaten Russia will not be deployed near our borders,” he said.
Blinken met with Ukraine and European countries
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Blinken “reiterated the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s borders.”
Ned Price stated that the two leaders discussed efforts for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and diplomatic dialogue with Russia.
“I am assured of the full US support for Ukraine in countering Russian aggression,” Ukrainian President Zelensky wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Blinken also met with the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany. Spokesperson Ned Price discussed the issue of ministers acting together to deter Russia from further aggression against Ukraine.
Ned Price stated that foreign ministers underlined the agreement between allies and partners should Russia take such a step.
“The cost of occupation would be great”
Some analysts doubt that Putin’s steps will be the size of an invasion. Taras Kuzio of Kyiv National University is of the opinion that the cost of the invasion will be very high, bloody and lengthy and therefore unlikely.
Kuzio wrote in an article on the website of the Atlantic Council, “If Putin attempts to crush Ukraine with a strong military force, he could lose the country completely and lead to an anti-government unrest within Russia that could threaten the life of the entire regime. “For a man experiencing the collapse of an empire, that may be a risk he’s not ready to take.”
Conveying his New Year’s wishes to US President Biden in a telegram, Russian President Putin stated that Russia and the US should work constructively and be in dialogue with mutual respect and considering each other’s national interests.
In the last two months, Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border, causing concern in western countries. Moscow denies plans to attack Ukraine and argues that it has the right to send its troops wherever it sees fit within its own territory.
On January 12, Russia and NATO are expected to hold a meeting in Brussels. On January 13, wider meetings involving Washington, Moscow and European countries are planned to be held in Vienna, the headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.