Biden continued to warn Putin that if he decided to invade Ukraine, the United States and its allies would "respond decisively and quickly impose serious consequences on Russia." the White House said Biden's efforts did not change the Kremlin's position. The Kremlin: the US warning that "Russia is about to invade Ukraine" has reached an "absurd" level.
On February 12, local time, US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked about the situation in Ukraine for about an hour.
CNN reported thatBiden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that if Russia decided to invade Ukraine, the United States and its allies would "respond decisively and quickly impose serious consequences on Russia."In about an hour's phone call, the White House said Biden made it clear to Putin what the risk of invading Russia was.
Fox News reported thatBiden stressed that the United States stands ready to deal with "other situations"-some degree of military response to defend its ally Ukraine.A senior White House executive said the call was "professional and substantive." But he added that "the situation has not fundamentally changed in the past few weeks."
Mr Biden failed to make a breakthrough in an hour-long phone call with Mr Putin, and US officials warned on Saturday that Russian troops were still on the brink of invading Ukraine, the Financial Times reported. The US president went to great lengths to persuade Putin not to attack Ukraine and warned that if he did, the West would impose "severe" economic sanctions. But the White House saidBiden's efforts have not changed the Kremlin's position, and the imminent attack remains a "clear possibility".
Russian presidential assistant Ushakov called Saturday's call "balanced and pragmatic", but he saidThe United States and NATO have failed to address Russia's major security problems.
Ushakov said the conversation, which lasted more than an hour, "took place in an atmosphere of hysteria."American officials claimed that Russia was about to invade Ukraine, which he called "absurd".
Just hours before the two leaders spoke, US officials warned that Russia could launch a full-scale invasion as early as next week.Both the United States and Russia appear to be evacuating their embassies in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.
"Western intelligence officials have warned that the time for Russia's invasion of Ukraine is approaching and the United States is preparing to evacuate its embassy in Kiev," the Associated Press reported on Saturday. The US Embassy confirmed that it had ordered all non-essential staff to leave Ukraine immediately, and all US citizens in the country were urged to leave.
The Pentagon confirmed on Saturday that it had ordered soldiers training the national army in Ukraine to leave the country because of fears that Russia was about to launch a military offensive.
"military action may begin at any time without any warning," the US said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also confirmed that it was reducing its diplomatic presence in Ukraine, including embassies and consulates. Russia is concerned about "possible provocations from Ukraine or a third country", which could "seriously complicate the security situation," according to a statement.
As for the call on Saturday, CCTV reported:
The Kremlin said in a statement that the US warning that "Russia is about to invade Ukraine" had reached an "absurd" level and that the US response to Russia's security proposals ignored Russia's main concerns.
U.S. president Joe Biden said on the phone that both the United States and the Soviet Union worked hard to avoid catastrophic conflicts during the Cold War. Although the United States and Russia are now competitors, both sides must make every effort to ensure the security of the world and prevent the situation in Ukraine from going bad. Biden said he was committed to solving the problem diplomatically and expressed many of his concerns about the draft security treaty proposed by Russia.
Putin responded to Biden during the call. Russia will carefully analyze and evaluate the responses of the United States and NATO to the draft security treaty as well as Biden's own concerns, and will inform all parties in the near future what measures Russia will take. Putin also pointed out that the responses of the United States and NATO ignored the key elements of the Russian initiative. Russia has not received any reply on key issues such as the expansion of NATO, the deployment of NATO assault forces in Ukraine and the return of NATO to its pre-1997 state.
On the situation in Ukraine, Putin stressed that the West did not exert enough pressure to urge the Ukrainian authorities to implement the Minsk agreement. The trend of militarization in Ukraine and the provision of modern weapons to Ukraine are extremely dangerous. The more the West does so, the more it will encourage Ukrainian militants to launch possible provocations against Donbass and Crimea. Putin also pointed out that Russia does not understand why the United States should deliberately disclose to the media the false information that Russia plans to "invade" Ukraine.
On the same day, Ushakov, assistant to the Russian president, commented to the Russian media on the phone call between the presidents of Russia and the United States on the same day.
Ushakov said Biden mentioned in the call that the United States could impose severe sanctions on Russia if the situation in Ukraine deteriorates. But this topic is not the focus of the conversation between Russian and American presidents. The two sides did not talk about how Russia would respond to possible provocations from Kiev against Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ushakov stressed that the call on that day was initiated by the United States, and the Russian side originally planned to make the call on February 14. American hysteria that Russia will "invade" Ukraine has reached its peak.
Edit / Phoebe