用户名/邮箱
登录密码
验证码
看不清?换一张
您好,欢迎访问! [ 登录 | 注册 ]
您的位置:首页 - 最新资讯
Biden, Putin to discuss Ukraine in video call amid growing tensions
2021-12-07 00:00:00.0     华盛顿邮报-政治     原网页

       President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a video call Tuesday morning focused on growing tensions over Ukraine.

       The secure call, which Biden will take from the Situation Room at the White House, comes amid increasingly strained relations between the two countries, as Russia has massed troops along the Ukraine border, prompting fears of a Russian invasion of the Eastern European nation.

       Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight

       The Kremlin has made clear that it wants the United States to promise not to allow Ukraine admission into NATO, as well as guarantees that NATO will not expand east in terms of certain military activities around Ukraine — a message Putin is expected to reiterate on Tuesday’s call.

       Story continues below advertisement

       Biden, meanwhile, has made clear that the United States does not plan to accede to Russia’s demands, telling reporters Friday, “I don’t accept anybody’s red lines.”

       Advertisement

       The United States is expected to lay out “substantial economic countermeasures” in the form of sanctions, a senior administration official said Monday.

       Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said he expected the conversation “to be quite long and substantive,” and Biden on Friday similarly said he anticipated “a long discussion” with Putin.

       Speaking to reporters Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated that Biden’s objective on the call remains the same as it has been since he took office: not to escalate the relationship but “to move to a more stable footing in the relationship.”

       Story continues below advertisement

       She also stressed that it remains unclear if Putin has yet made a final decision about invading Ukraine.

       U.S. intelligence, however, believes that Moscow may be planning a multi-front offensive into Ukraine as early as next year involving as many 175,000 troops, according to U.S. officials and an intelligence document obtained by The Washington Post.

       Advertisement

       Both publicly and privately, administration officials have been hesitant to telegraph just how far the United States is prepared to go, including the potential use of military force, if Russia moves ahead and invades Ukraine.

       Asked what Biden is willing to threaten beyond sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine, Psaki said Monday, “It’s not about threats.”

       Story continues below advertisement

       “It’s about conveying that the right path forward here is through diplomacy,” she said. “In the meantime, on financial sanctions, we have consulted significantly with our allies and believe we have a path forward that would impose significant and severe harm on the Russian economy. You can call that a threat. You can call that a fact. You can call that preparation — whatever you want to call it. But that is something we’ve talked about publicly, and certainly, the president would convey that, as well.”

       Advertisement

       The two leaders met in person in June, at a summit in Geneva, that included three hours of face-to-face talks but little in the way of tangible deliverables. Still, at the time, both sides dubbed the summit a success, saying it had achieved its goal of opening lines of communication between the two countries to head off potential catastrophes.

       In public, top Biden administration officials are sending increasingly serious warnings about Putin’s capacity to attack Ukraine. A top State Department official plans to tell senators later Tuesday that the United States will work in tandem with allies to impose “severe consequences” on Moscow should it invade Ukraine, including “high-impact economic measures” that the United States has declined to use in the past against Russia.

       Story continues below advertisement

       “We don’t know whether Russian President Putin has made a decision to attack Ukraine or overthrow its government but we do know he is building the capacity to do so,” Victoria Nuland, the No. 3 official at State, will tell the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in her opening remarks, a copy of which was obtained by The Post in advance.

       Advertisement

       Nuland will add, according to her testimony: “Much of this comes right out of Putin’s 2014 playbook, but this time, it is on a much larger and more lethal scale. So, despite our uncertainty about exact intentions and timing, we must prepare for all contingencies, even as we push Russia to reverse course.”

       Nuland came to Capitol Hill on Monday night to privately brief members of the Foreign Relations Committee ahead of Biden’s phone call Tuesday, as both Democratic and Republican senators urged the administration to ready harsh economic sanctions against Putin.

       Story continues below advertisement

       Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said he believes that the Biden administration has prepared a “robust” package of sanctions against Russia, as he pushed for Washington to send “clear, unequivocal and powerful messages to Putin” as Moscow continues its massive buildup of troops at the Russia-Ukraine border.

       “Sanctions are always more powerful when they can be multilateral, and I think they’ve been working on them pretty assiduously,” Menendez said after leaving the briefing with Nuland at the Capitol.

       


标签:政治
关键词: Biden     administration     Ukraine     advertisement     continues     Putin     sanctions     Russia     Nuland    
滚动新闻