WASHINGTON: United States President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a video call on Tuesday, with the two leaders set to discuss the tense situation in Ukraine.
“Biden will underscore US concerns with Russian military activities on the border with Ukraine and reaffirm the United States’ support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement.
She said other topics would include “strategic stability, cyber and regional issues.” Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed plans to Russia’s state news agency and said it will take place Tuesday evening.
“The two will also talk about bilateral ties and the implementation of agreements reached at their Geneva summit in June”, the Kremlin said in the statement. However, the exact timing of the call was not disclosed.
Kyiv and Nato powers accuse Russia of building up troops near Ukraine, sparking fears of a possible attack. Moscow denies any such plan and accuses Ukraine of building up its own forces in its east, where Russian-backed separatists control a large part of Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Friday that Moscow may be planning a large-scale military offensive at the end of January, citing intelligence reports. US officials have come to similar conclusions, they said.
Biden, meanwhile, has rejected Russian demands for security guarantees in the region. “My expectation is we’re going to have a long discussion with Putin,” Biden told reporters on Friday as he departed for a weekend trip to Camp David. “I don’t accept anybody’s red lines,” he added.
The US president said he and his advisers were preparing a comprehensive set of initiatives aimed at deterring Putin from an invasion. He did not give further details, but the administration has discussed partnering with European allies to impose more sanctions on Russia.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin separately said that Washington was committed to ensuring that Ukraine had what it needed to protect its territory. Austin added that there was a lot of space for diplomacy and leadership to work on Ukraine.
U.S.-Russia relations have been deteriorating for years, notably with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, its 2015 intervention in Syria and US intelligence charges of meddling in the 2016 election won by now-former President Donald Trump. However, they have become more volatile in recent months.
