Washington / Moscow – US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met on Thursday for the second time this month.
Both heads of state have warned of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, American and Russian officials announced. The US Presidential Office spokeswoman Jen Psake said Biden had made it clear that “the United States and its allies will react decisively if Russia continues to invade Ukraine.”
Putin warned of sanctions that they are a big mistake and that they could destroy relations between countries. An adviser to the Kremlin, Yuri Ushakov, said Russia was satisfied with the phone call.
The focus was also on security guarantees that Moscow is demanding from the West. Both sides were optimistic about the upcoming talks in January, which could help ease relations.
According to US government officials, the phone call began around 9:35 p.m. Central European Time and ended 50 minutes later, i.e. in the afternoon in the USA and around midnight in Moscow. Details of the content were initially not given.
In the run-up to the conversation, however, it was said that the Ukraine conflict should be at the top of the agenda, along with a number of other topics, such as the upcoming security talks in January and Iran’s nuclear program. At the beginning of December, the two presidents spoke to each other in a video link.
Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated over the past few years over a number of issues. Most recently, the focus was on the conflict in Ukraine.
Concerns about Russian invasion of Ukraine
The deployment of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers near the border with the ex-Soviet republic in recent weeks has raised concerns about an invasion and has brought back memories of 2014 when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. In addition, the leadership in Kiev has for years been confronted with an armed uprising by pro-Russian separatists in the east of their country.
Photo: private
“data-zoom-src =” https://bilder.bild.de/fotos/russland-bewegt-seit-ueber-einem-monat-unhaben-von-waffen-auf-zuegen-in-das-russisch-ukrainische- gren-5d6cacc1812446e2a5e4c3137199005d-78688396 / image / 2.image.jpg “/> Russia has been moving massive amounts of weapons on trains into the Russian-Ukrainian border area for over a monthPhoto: private
The leadership in Moscow denies alleged plans to attack Ukraine and insists on their right to move troops on their own territory as they please. She expresses concern about arms shipments from the West to Ukraine and fears that NATO will be enlarged at the Easter end.
Putin is demanding guarantees that the Western military alliance will refrain from this, as well as from the stationing of certain weapon systems in Ukraine or other neighboring countries.
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