US President Joe Biden stated on Wednesday (December 8) that after the virtual summit held this week, the tension between Moscow and Washington has eased slightly. Therefore, the deployment of US troops in Ukraine to prevent a potential Russian invasion is “not at the negotiating table.” superior”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow will present ideas to Washington within a week to follow up his talks with Biden on the Ukrainian crisis on Tuesday.
Biden told reporters at the White House that he hopes to announce a high-level meeting with Russia and NATO’s major allies before Friday to discuss Moscow’s “major concerns about NATO” and the “possibility of lowering the temperature”. Follow the east line. “
The United States is expressing growing anxiety about Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that has been leaning towards the West since 2014. Moscow denies its intention to invade Ukraine, but warns that NATO is expanding eastward.
Ukraine has asked the U.S., British and Canadian forces to have a “visible presence” on its territory close to the Donbass region.
Biden said that if NATO allies are attacked, the United States has a moral and legal obligation to protect them, but this obligation does not apply to Ukraine.
“It’s not at the negotiating table,” Biden said when asked whether he would use US troops to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine.
“It will depend on what other NATO countries are also willing to do,” Biden said. “But the idea that the United States will unilaterally use force against Russia that invaded Ukraine…it is not yet…”
He said that he made it clear to Putin during the talks on Tuesday that if Russia invaded Ukraine, it would have unprecedented economic consequences, and he believed Putin had received this information.
Biden warned Putin on Tuesday that if Moscow invaded, the West would implement “strong economic and other measures” against Moscow, while Putin asked for assurances that NATO would not expand eastward.
After the two-hour video call, neither party talked about the breakthrough, but agreed to continue talking about what the Kremlin called “this complex confrontational situation.”
“We agree that we will continue to discuss and proceed in a substantive manner. We will exchange our ideas in the near future. Russia will formulate its ideas verbatim in the next few days, and we will submit them to The US considers,” Putin told reporters on Wednesday.
Putin said in his first public comment after the talks that raising the question of whether Russia plans to attack Ukraine was “provocative”, and once again accused Kiev and NATO of threatening Russia’s security.
“We can’t help but worry about the prospect that Ukraine may join NATO, because after that, military contingents, bases and weapons that threaten us will no doubt be deployed there,” he said.
He said that Russia’s non-response would be a “criminal omission”. “We are assuming that our concerns, at least this time, will be heard.”
The White House stated that Biden will talk to Ukrainian President Zelensky on Thursday to discuss Russia’s military buildup, and then talk to the leaders of the so-called Eastern European NATO allies in Bucharest.
FLight jet
As tensions intensified in the past month, Russia, Ukraine, and NATO have all intensified military exercises.
RIA Novosti quoted the Ministry of Defense as saying that on Wednesday, Russian military aircraft escorted the French Rafale and Mirage fighter jets flying over the Black Sea in an emergency.
Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepted two Mirage 2000 and Rafale tactical fighter jets over the Black Sea, as well as a French Air Force C-135 tanker, the Russian Ministry of Defense https://t.co/97wd0uOGsu #Ukraine
— Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) December 8, 2021
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it had submitted a protest note to the U.S. Embassy regarding the “dangerous” flight of U.S. and NATO military aircraft near the Russian border.
Zelensky welcomed Biden’s role in trying to achieve peace in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine stated that more than 14,000 people have been killed in a seven-year battle with Russia-backed separatists.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba told Reuters that the talks between Biden and Putin served as a “deterrent and easing the situation.”
Extend the Normandy format to the U.S.
A Russian Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying that for the first time the United States may be included in the group of nations working to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
RIA Novosti quoted official Oleg Krasnitsky as saying that the United States has no reason not to join the so-called Normandy group composed of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany. The group has tried but has not ended yet. war.
“Much depends on Washington’s position in resolving the conflict in Ukraine. In principle, if the United States is really prepared to make a contribution, we have always been open to American influence in Kiev,” he was quoted as saying.
These remarks seem to indicate that Moscow is open to the proposal made by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Brinken last week to allow Washington to facilitate combat negotiations.
(Editing by Georgi Getoff)
