A high-risk verbal exchange on Tuesday between the Russian and American presidents. Washington wants to avoid a military escalation in Ukraine. And Moscow intends to mark its own strategic “red lines”.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin held two hours of virtual talks on Ukraine and other disputes on Tuesday amid Western fears that Moscow is poised to invade its southern neighbour.
Russian TV footage showed Biden and Putin greeting each other in a friendly manner at the start of what was expected to be a tense exchange. Biden told Putin he hoped their next meeting would be in person.
The White House issued a statement saying the talks had started, but did not display any visuals from the secure ‘Situation Room’ where Biden was located.
The two leaders talked for two hours and one minute, according to the White House.
The Kremlin has said it hopes the two leaders can hold an in-person summit to discuss what it has described as the lamentable state of U.S.-Russia relations, which have sunk to their lowest since the end of the Cold War.
U.S. officials said before the video conference that Biden would tell Putin that Russia and its banks could be hit with the toughest economic sanctions yet if it attacks Ukraine.
They said the sanctions, which one source said could target Russia’s biggest banks and Moscow’s ability to convert Rubles into Dollars and other currencies, were designed to dissuade Putin from using tens of thousands of troops massed near the Ukrainian border to attack its southern neighbour.
Ukrainian and Western officials are worried that a Russian military buildup near Ukraine could signal plans by Moscow to invade its ex-Soviet neighbor.
The Kremlin insists it has no such intention and has accused Ukraine and its Western backers of making the claims to cover up their own allegedly aggressive designs.
It’s unclear whether the Russian troop concentration heralds an imminent attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed for Western guarantees precluding NATO’s expansion to Ukraine, and the buildup could reflect an attempt to back up the message.
In addition to the Ukraine issue, the two leaders discussed “the US-Russia dialogue on Strategic Stability, a separate dialogue on ransomware, as well as joint work on regional issues such as Iran,” the White House said.
