Washington/Moscow: US President Biden spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about Russia’s escalating military buildup on the borders of Ukraine. Biden was clear that if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States with their allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia.
Biden reiterated that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing. He was clear with Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with their allies and partners, they are equally prepared for other scenarios.
The two presidents spoke a day after Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, warned that the US intelligence shows that a Russian invasion could begin within days and before the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
The call produced no fundamental change in the dynamic that has been unfolding now for several weeks, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters following the call. The official, who discussed the call on condition of anonymity, added that it remains unclear whether Putin has made a final decision to move forward with military action.
The Biden administration has been warning for weeks that Russia could invade Ukraine soon, but the US officials had previously said the Kremlin would likely wait until after the Games ended so as not to antagonise China.
Sullivan told reporters on Friday that the US intelligence shows that Russia could take military action during the Olympics. Russia has massed well over 100,000 troops near the Ukraine border and has sent troops to exercises in neighboring Belarus, but denies that it intends to launch an offensive against Ukraine.
Before talking to Biden, Putin had a telephone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with him in Moscow earlier in the week to try to resolve the biggest security crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War. A Kremlin summary of the call suggested that little progress was made toward cooling down the tensions.
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In a sign that American officials are getting ready for a worst-case scenario, the United States announced plans to evacuate its embassy in the Ukrainian capital, and Britain joined other European nations in urging its citizens to leave Ukraine.
The timing of any possible Russian military action remained a key question. The US picked up intelligence that Russia is looking at Wednesday as a target date, according to a U.S. official familiar with the findings. The official, who was not authorised to speak publicly and did so only on condition of anonymity, would not say how definitive the intelligence was.
The US officials say Russia's buildup of firepower near Ukraine has reached the point where it could invade on short notice. A Kremlin statement about the Putin-Macron call referred to provocative speculations about an allegedly planned Russian invasion' of Ukraine. Russia has consistently denied that it plans military action against its neighbour.
Putin also complained in the call that the United States and NATO have not responded satisfactorily to Russian demands that Ukraine be prohibited from joining the military alliance and that NATO pull back forces from Eastern Europe.
Biden has said the US military will not enter a war in Ukraine, but he has promised severe economic sanctions against Moscow, in concert with international allies.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he told his Russian counterpart Saturday that further Russian aggression would be met with a resolute, massive and united trans-Atlantic response.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tried to project calm as he observed military exercises Saturday near Crimea, the peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.
"We are not afraid, we're without panic, all is under control, he said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, also held telephone discussions on Saturday. U.K. troops that have been training the Ukrainian army also planned to leave the country. Germany, the Netherlands and Italy called on their citizens to leave as soon as possible.
A State Department travel advisory on Saturday said most American staff at the Kyiv embassy have been ordered to leave and other U.S. citizens should depart the country as well.
Further U.S.-Russia tensions arose on Saturday when the Defense Ministry summoned the U.S. embassy's military attache after it said the navy detected an American submarine in Russian waters near the Kuril Islands in the Pacific. The submarine declined orders to leave, but departed after the navy used unspecified appropriate means, the ministry said.
Adding to the sense of crisis, the Pentagon ordered an additional 3,000 U.S. troops to Poland to reassure allies.
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(With agency inputs)
