U.S. president Joe Biden (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin fulfill throughout the U.S.-Russia top at Villa La Grange on June 16, 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland.
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U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a video contact Tuesday, with the 2 leaders set to talk about the tense circumstance in Ukraine.
“Biden will underscore U.S. 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 representative Jen Psaki stated in a declaration.
She stated other subjects would consist of “strategic stability, cyber and regional issues.”
The 2 will likewise speak about bilateral ties and the execution of arrangements reached at their Geneva top in June, the Kremlin stated on Saturday.
“The conversation will indeed take place on Tuesday,” Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov informedReuters “Bilateral relations, of course Ukraine and the realization of the agreements reached in Geneva are the main (items) on the agenda,” he stated.
The precise timing of the call was not divulged.
More than 94,000 Russian soldiers are thought to be massed near Ukraine’s borders. Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov stated on Friday that Moscow might be preparing a massive military offensive at the end of January, mentioning intelligence reports. U.S. authorities have actually concerned comparable conclusions, they stated.
Biden, on the other hand, has actually turned down Russian needs for security assurances in the area.
“My expectation is we’re going to have a long discussion with Putin,” Biden informed press reporters on Friday as he left for a weekend journey to CampDavid “I don’t accept anybody’s red lines,” he stated.
The U.S. president stated he and his advisors were preparing a detailed set of efforts focused on discouraging Putin from an intrusion. He did not offer additional information, however the administration has actually gone over partnering with European allies to enforce more sanctions on Russia.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin individually stated that Washington was dedicated to making sure that Ukraine had what it required to safeguard its area.
Austin included that there was a great deal of area for diplomacy and management to deal with Ukraine.
At the very same conference, James C. McConville, chief of personnel of the U.S. Army, on Saturday described price quotes of 95,000 to 100,000 Russian soldiers on the border with Ukraine.
“I don’t know what they are going to do, but I am very, very concerned,” McConville stated.
Moscow implicates Kyiv of pursuing its own military accumulation. It has actually dismissed as inflammatory recommendations that it is getting ready for an attack on its southern next-door neighbor and has actually safeguarded its right to release soldiers by itself area as it chooses.
U.S. authorities state they do not understand yet what Putin’s intents are, consisting of whether Putin has actually decided to get into Ukraine.
U.S.-Russia relations have actually been weakening for several years, significantly with Russia’s 2014 addition of Crimea from Ukraine, its 2015 intervention in Syria and U.S. intelligence charges of meddling in the 2016 election won by now-former President Donald Trump.
But they have actually ended up being more unstable in current months.
The Biden administration has actually asked Moscow to punish ransomware and cyber criminal offense attacks originating from Russian soil, and in November charged a Ukraine nationwide and a Russian in among the worst ransomware attacks versus American targets.
Russia has actually consistently rejected performing or enduring cyber attacks.
The 2 leaders have actually had one in person conference because Biden took workplace in January, taking a seat for talks in Geneva inJune They last talked by phone on July 9. Biden delights in direct talks with world leaders, seeing them as a method to lower stress.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Stockholm previously today that the United States and its European allies would enforce “severe costs and consequences on Russia if it takes further aggressive action against Ukraine.”
