As Biden threatens tough sanctions for Russia, Putin says Ukraine talks are not over
Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline would be blocked if Russia invades Ukraine, vows U.S. president
In a flurry of diplomacy across two continents, Russia's Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron met for hours in Moscow at the same time U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke at the White House in efforts to defuse the crisis over Ukraine and avoid armed conflict.
Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops at the Ukraine border, adding military might almost daily, and fuelling Western worries of a possible offensive. Russia has denied any plans to attack its neighbour but demands that the U.S. and its allies guarantee Ukraine and other former Soviet countries will not join NATO, halt weapons deployments there and roll back NATO forces from eastern Europe. Washington and NATO reject those demands.
Macron, who held more than five hours of talks over dinner on Monday with the Russian president, said the coming days will be crucial in the Ukraine standoff.
"The next few days will be decisive and will require intensive discussions which we will pursue together," Macron told reporters after the meal, which included reindeer with sweet potatoes and blackberries.
Putin suggested some progress had been made at the talks.
"A number of his ideas, proposals, which are probably still too early to talk about, I think it is quite possible to make the basis of our further joint steps," he said.
Macron said that during talks with Putin, he had found points of convergence over the Ukraine crisis, even while differences remained.
He also said that creating a new security architecture in Europe should not be done by cancelling states' right to join the NATO alliance.
Putin said that NATO's expansion eastward to Russia's border has violated the security principles of international agreements and scoffed at Western assurances that it is a defensive alliance that doesn't threaten Russia.
"People of Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan have had learned it from their own experience," the Russian leader said in a sarcastic reference to the U.S. allies' involvement in military campaigns in those countries. He also referenced NATO's 1999 bombing campaign in the former Yugoslavia.
Biden says U.S. and Germany are 'in lockstep'
Biden emerged from a meeting with Germany's new leader Monday vowing the crucial Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline would be blocked if Russia invades Ukraine.
The White House has expressed increasing alarm about the prospects of a war, and Biden has been looking to solidify support among European allies for economy-jarring sanctions against Russia if it moves further with an invasion.
"We are jointly ready, and all of NATO is ready," Biden said, referring to the powerful Western alliance, though Ukraine is not a member.
"Germany is one of America's closest allies," Biden said earlier Monday as he hosted Scholz at the White House, adding they were "working in lockstep" to further deter Russian aggression in Europe.
While Biden reiterated with certitude that the pipeline would not move forward, Scholz stressed the need to keep some ambiguity about sanctions in order to press Russia to de-escalate the crisis.
"It's necessary for Russia to understand that a lot more could happen than they've perhaps calculated with themselves," Scholz said.
Biden also added "it would be wise" for Americans who are in Ukraine, aside from U.S. diplomats, to leave the country amid the Russian military threat.
The U.S. State Department has been warning American citizens to reconsider any plans to travel to Ukraine since last year due to the buildup of Russian forces near the border. In January, it upgraded that advice, urging U.S. citizens not to travel to Ukraine or to leave the country if they are already there. That stepped-up warning came as the department ordered the families of all American staffers at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv to depart and allowed non-essential
diplomats there leave.
What's happening on the ground?
- A growing number of Russian troops near Ukraine — now "well north of 100,000" said Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby — has fuelled Western worries that it heralds a possible offensive, with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warning Sunday that Russia could invade Ukraine "any day," triggering a conflict that would come at an "enormous human cost."
- Russia has denied any plans to attack its neighbour, but is urging the U.S. and its allies to bar Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations from joining NATO, halt weapons deployments there and roll back NATO forces from eastern Europe. Washington and NATO have rejected the demands.
- Biden has ordered additional U.S. troops deployed to Poland, Romania and Germany, and a few dozen elite U.S troops and equipment were seen landing Sunday in southeastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine, with hundreds more infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division set to arrive.
Possibility of diplomatic 'off-ramp' to resolve crisis
On a positive note, Putin said without elaboration that some of Macron's proposals could serve as a basis for a settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, adding that they agreed to have a call after Macron's visit to Kyiv Tuesday.
Likewise, Biden said when asked if there remained an "off-ramp" for Russia in the standoff: "The answer is yes."
Before meeting Biden, Scholz told German media that "there will be a very high price if Ukraine is attacked militarily. And we are preparing for this very precisely and have been talking about the details for a long time." Scholz will travel to Kyiv and Moscow Feb. 14-15.
Separately, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said her country will send up to 350 troops within a few days to join about 500 that are already part of a NATO battle group in Lithuania.
"With this, we are strengthening our contribution to forces on NATO's eastern flank and sending a very clear signal of unity to our allies," she said.
Britain said it was sending 350 troops to Poland to bolster NATO forces, joining 100 Royal Engineers already there.
'A massive amassing of Russian forces'
At a news conference in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the U.S. and Europe defended the increasingly dire Western warnings that a Russian invasion may be imminent.
"This is not alarmism. This is simply the facts," Blinken said. "And the facts are that we've seen over the last few months a massive amassing of Russian forces on Ukraine's borders."
Borrell noted that, "140,000 troops massed on the border is not to go to have tea."
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance is weighing a more permanent military presence in southeast Europe in response to Russia's "massive military deployment" near Ukraine.
"We are considering more longer-term adjustments to our posture, our presence in the eastern part of the alliance," Stoltenberg said after talks in Brussels with Polish President Andrzej Duda. "If Russia really wants less NATO close to the borders, they get the opposite."
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Stoltenberg gave no details and said no final decision has been made, but the move could mirror NATO's long-term military presence in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, where about 5,000 troops are stationed. It would see a similar force based in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
With files from Reuters
