The White House said in a statement that Joe Biden, the President of America, on Sunday conferred with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, over the Russian increased military presence near its border that Washington and its allies and partners will ‘respond decisively’ if Russia further invades its pro-Western neighbor.
The two leaders spoke on the phone-call days after Mr. Biden held the second talk in a month with his Russian counterpart Mr. Vladimir Putin due to strains on the border with Ukraine, where Moscow has deployed some 0.1M troops.
WH readout of Biden-Zelensky call: “President Biden made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine” pic.twitter.com/xmwf9VLwIv
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 2, 2022
White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki said in a statement following the Biden-Putin phone-call that President Biden made evident that America and its partners will respond forcefully if Russia moves to invade Ukraine.
According to the White House, both Zelenskyy and Biden discussed preparations for a series of forthcoming diplomatic meetings to address the issue. In addition, Zelenskyy said in a tweet afterward that he respected America’s ‘solid support’ and that the call proves the superior nature of the relationship between two countries.
Furthermore, high-ranking Russian and American officials will sit down in Geneva on 9th and 10th January to address the crisis. NATO-Russia Council talks and a meeting of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) are also due to occur.
“we will see” – President Biden
President Biden spoke with Vladimir Putin for about 50 minutes on Thursday, 30 December 2021. He told media the following day that he cautioned Putin that his economy would pay a heavy price if Moscow, which had increased its military presence near the border with Ukraine, further invades Ukraine.
On Friday, Biden said he isn’t going to discuss there in public, but they made it evident that he CANNOT move on Ukraine.
The U.S. leader said he told Mr. Putin it was significant for the Russians to proceed toward relaxing the crisis before those meetings. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, in describing the Presidents’ talk this last week, said Biden’s chase of sanctions could lead to a complete breakdown of relations between their countries, and Russia-West ties will be sternly damaged.
Source: Web
American intelligence findings show Moscow has made preparations for a potential invasion in early this year. But White House officials say it remains uncertain whether the Russian President has already made a choice to go ahead with military action. Still, Mr. Biden said he remained confident for the forthcoming talks. He said Friday that he always anticipates “if you discuss to make progress,” but “we will see.”
