8 minutes agoTensions in Ukraine: Beden and Putin to conduct phone conversations today
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)US President Joe Biden will hold talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin for the second time this month in an effort to reduce tensions over Ukraine. The two leaders will talk by phone Thursday. They will discuss future security talks between countries and the situation in Europe, [...]
They will discuss future security talks between the countries and the situation in Europe, a White House official said. Russia, which has established forces on the border with Ukraine, denies it plans to invade the country.
The country led by Putin says its troops are there for training and that it has the right to freely move its troops to its land.
The US consulted with European leaders before the call to co-ordinate a joint response to the issue, the White House statement said.
Ukrainian security officials say more than 100,000 Russian troops have been sent near their common border, and the US has threatened Putin with sanctions “such as he has never seen” if Ukraine is attacked.
Beden will offer his Russian counterpart a “diplomatic path”, but remains the highly concerned “from the collection of Russian troops at the border, an American official told the AFP news agency. He is expected to say Putin that the US is prepared to respond if Russia advances with “a further invasion of Ukraine”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Ukrainian President Voldymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, writes BBC, broadcast Klankosova.tv.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken had “reiterated the United States' firm support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine in the face of Russia's military establishment.
Earlier this month, the two presidents held a virtual summit in which Biden reiterated his support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. While Ukraine is not a NATO member, it has close ties to the bloc.
Russia has declared it wants legally binding guarantees that NATO will not move eastward and that weapons will not be sent to Ukraine or any neighbouring country.
Secretary - General NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, has voiced confidence that Ukraine's membership in the alliance is an issue between NATO and Kiev.
Russian officials will meet their American counterparts in Geneva on January 10th. Asked earlier this week whether to meet Putin on that date, Biden replied to “We will see”
