Vladimir Putin warns Joe Biden of ‘complete rupture’
Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden have talked for the second time in three weeks, amid diplomatic efforts to resolve a dangerously escalating standoff over Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin has warned Joe Biden the US risked a “complete rupture” between the two Cold War superpowers if it imposed new sanctions to dissuade Moscow from invading Ukraine.
In a critical 50 minute phone call on Thursday the two leaders sized each other up to set the “tone and tenor” of a series of meetings between Russia, the US and NATO allies in Geneva, Brussels and Vienna set to begin on January 10.
“The tone of the conversation between two presidents was serious and substantive,” a senior White House official told reporters following the call, revealing President Biden warned the Russian leader of “serious costs and consequences” if he invaded Ukraine.
“Both leaders acknowledged what were likely to be areas where we could make meaningful progress, where agreement may be impossible and how upcoming talks would determine more precisely the contours of each of those categories,” the official added.
It was Mr Biden’s second call with the Russian leader this month, amid growing alarm among US and allied security officials that Russia’s 100,000 strong military build-up on its border with Ukraine was a prelude to invasion.
Earlier this month, Russia issued a sweeping set of demands, including guarantees that NATO would not expand further, and a bar on new US military bases in former territories of the Soviet Union.
Russia wants the US and its NATO allies to undertake not to expand further among former Soviet Union states such as Ukraine and Georgia, which Russia has long sought keep out of the NATO orbit.
Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov said on Thursday the Kremlin was overall “pleased” with the talks, but added Putin warned Biden that Moscow needed a positive outcome and the upcoming security talks could not last indefinitely.
“We need a result, and we will be pushing for a result in the form of ensuring guaranteed security for Russia,” Ushakov told reporters in a conference call.
“Negotiations should not turn into idle talk,” Ushakov added, without giving a precise time frame.
Mr Biden, who had been war-gaming the call with senior officials including secretary of state Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, laid out two possibilities to Mr Putin: diplomacy leading to de-escalation or severe sanctions on Russia.
“This will be a colossal mistake which could lead to serious — the most serious — consequences. We hope this will not happen,” Ushakov said.
Taking the call from his private home in Wilmington, Delaware, Mr Biden said Russian invasion would prompt adjustments in NATO’s military posture in Europe, and trigger immediate additional assistance to the Ukraine to defend itself.
“We continue to monitor closely movements and build up of Russian forces and prepare ourselves for whatever decision is ultimately made by Russian president,” the senior official on a call with reporters Thursday EST.
“Biden was very clear the US would be operating on the principle of ‘nothing about you without you’,” the official added, referring to a US undertaking to refrain from negotiating in public and keep its allies abreast of all bilateral dealing with Russia.
In an article for Foreign Policy published Thursday Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, said the current situation was “extremely dangerous”.
“No one should doubt our determination to defend our security. Everything has its limits,” he wrote.
“If our partners keep constructing military-strategic realities imperilling the existence of our country, we will be forced to create similar vulnerabilities for them.”
Ahead of the call, both sides insisted they were ready to listen. But with Thursday’s talk setting the stage for difficult, lower-level, face-to-face negotiations in Geneva in January, there were few indications of major concessions on the horizon.
The United States rejects what it calls a bid by the Kremlin to dictate independent countries’ futures, and warns that if troops do cross into Ukraine, Russia will face blistering economic sanctions backed both by Washington and EU capitals.
Previous Western sanctions imposed after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea have had little discernible impact.
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