On the eve of a meeting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, Washington announces the color: if Russia attacks Ukraine, the United States is ready to take unprecedented financial sanctions and to station more soldiers in Europe than Is, without going as far as a direct military response.
A senior White House official detailed in a press conference the levers the United States was prepared to pull. ” If Putin moves, there would be increased demand from our allies “From Eastern Europe for” more troops, capabilities and exercises “, and “ the United States would respond favorably “. However, he made it clear that a direct American military response was not currently being considered: for the White House it is a scenario in which it does not want to find itself, specifies our correspondent in Washington, Guillaume Naudin.
Washington intends to favor, in the event of an invasion of Ukraine, ” a combination »Of several elements: support for the Ukrainian army, strong economic sanctions and a substantial increase in support and capacities with their allies within NATO. NATO is, moreover, the angry subject between Russia and the West. Even if the process of Ukraine’s accession to the Atlantic alliance, although open, seems frozen, Moscow wants a formal commitment that Ukraine will not join the alliance. This commitment, the United States and even less Ukraine, are not ready to make it.
While the sanctions have so far not made it possible to really influence the decisions of the Kremlin, according to many observers, the American government has been assuring for a few days that it would resort, this time, to unprecedented draconian punitive measures.
Blinken and Zelensky spoke on the phone
Before his videoconference this Tuesday with Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden spoke yesterday Monday ” with key European allies ” for “ coordinate the message “. After a phone call between the five leaders of Germany, the United States, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, the Western powers have ” expressed their determination that sovereignty “From Ukraine” be respected “, Said the Elysee in a statement Monday. Emmanuel Macron and the four other heads of state and government also “ states their commitment to act to maintain peace and security in Europe Added the French presidency.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. ” We have agreed to continue our joint and concerted actions “Assured on Twitter the latter, who, wearing a helmet and camouflage bulletproof vest, went to trenches on the front line with the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on Monday. The US President will recall his Ukrainian counterpart ” in the following days His conversation with Vladimir Putin, according to the White House.
Agreed positions with @SecBlinken before the phone conversation of Presidents Biden and Putin. Agreed to continue joint & concerted action. Grateful to ?? strategic partners & allies for the continued support of our sovereignty & territorial integrity. Nothing about ?? without ??
– Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 6, 2021
Diplomatic firing window
Ned Price mentioned “ a window of fire to resolve this through diplomacy “. Kiev and its allies accuse Moscow of having massed troops and tanks on its border in anticipation of a possible attack. ” We do not know if President Putin has made a decision on a possible military escalation in Ukraine. But we know he is building up the capabilities to initiate such an escalation “, Said the senior American official.
On the side of Moscow, we deny any bellicose intention and we say we are listening to the proposals that Washington could make to try to resolve the crisis in the Donbass, reports our correspondent, Jean-Didier Revoin. And the Kremlin is awaiting responses from the United States about Russia’s demand for long-term guarantees of its security on its western – Ukraine – and southern borders, the Black Sea and Georgia. But the shadow of new American sanctions against Russia hangs over this interview from which Moscow expects nothing in particular. As the Kremlin spokesman pointed out, it will take more than a few hours of maintenance to restore order in the Augean stables of relations between Russia and the United States.
As long as Putin does not see resistance, he continues the game and therefore he is particularly adept at taking advantage of the hazy spaces, of the interstices between the actors who oppose him. And so I think that there is a choice of the Biden administration to say stop: it is necessary to specify at least the minimum of the rules of the game.
Erwan Lagadec, professor of international relations at Georges Washington University in the United States
► Read also: Headlines, the Russian threat in Ukraine