“Total rupture of relations”. That could be the scenario that would occur if new sanctions are imposed against Russia due to the situation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned his US counterpart Joe Biden.
In In a phone call on Thursday, Putin said that eventual sanctions would be a “colossal mistake.”
Biden, for his part, told the Russian president that the United States and its allies would respond decisively to any invasion of Ukraine .
The call, requested by Russia , was the second such conversation between the two rulers this month and lasted nearly an hour.
It marked the latest effort to ease tensions over Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia, where Ukrainian officials say that Moscow has deployed more than 100, soldiers
Accumulation has caused concern in the West and has ll It evades the United States from threatening Putin with sanctions “never seen before by anyone” if Ukraine is attacked.
Russia denies that it is planning to invade its neighbor and says that the troops are there for some military exercises. He says that he has the right to move his troops freely on his own soil.
Willingness to dialogue
Although both Parties exchanged warnings during the call, Russia’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters shortly after that Putin was “pleased” with the conversation . He added that a “nice backdrop” had been created for future conversations.
A senior US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the tone had been “serious and substantive.”
“President Biden reiterated that substantial progress in these dialogues can only occur in an environment of de-escalation,” said the secretary White House Press Officer Jen Psaki.
“He made it clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia continues with the invasion of Ukraine,” he added.
The US and Russian officials will meet to speak in person in Geneva next month . The White House said that Biden urged his Russian counterpart to seek a diplomatic solution.
In a message on the occasion of the end-of-the-year holidays, before Thursday’s call, Putin said he was “convinced” that both countries could work together on the basis of “mutual respect and consideration of each other’s national interests.”
Its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that Moscow was “in a good disposition for a conversation.”
“We believe that only through conversations is it possible to solve all the immediate problems that abound among us, ”added Peskov.
Differences by NATO
Ukraine’s Defense Minister told Parliament in early December that Russia had concentrated tens of thousands of troops near the border and that could be preparing for a full-scale military offensive in late January.
Russia has argued that the military concentration on the border is a protective measure against NATO, the western military alliance. He wants legally binding guarantees that NATO will not expand further east and that certain weapons will not be shipped to Ukraine or any neighboring country.
The United States has rejected what it describes as an attempt by the Kremlin to control the future of independent countries.
To Ukraine He has not been offered membership in NATO, but has close ties to the bloc.
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine are nothing new. In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and soon after began to back a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine that has killed some 100. 000 people in regular fighting.
Washington and its European allies have warned Russia to expect severe economic sanctions if troops cross into Ukraine again.
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