Biden will offer Putin a diplomatic channel on the Ukraine crisis

Washington. US President Joe Biden will offer his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “a diplomatic channel” as a way out of the Ukrainian crisis during a phone call today, ahead of the 10 January security negotiations in Europe.

Biden and Putin will speak by phone today “to discuss various issues, including upcoming diplomatic engagements with Russia,” a White House spokeswoman on security issues announced on Wednesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed it, specifying that it will be “late at night”, Moscow time.

Biden, who will speak to Putin from Delaware, where he has a home, will be willing to undertake “a diplomatic path” although the United States remains “deeply concerned” by the presence of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine and is “prepared to respond.” in the event of an invasion, according to a senior White House official.

Washington “would like the troops to return to their usual training areas,” said this source.

The phone call will come two weeks before the negotiations between the two countries, scheduled for January 10, on the nuclear arms control treaties and the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border, where the West accuses Moscow of concentrating troops for a possible attack.

The US government continues to carry out “extensive diplomacy with (its) European allies and partners, consulting and coordinating a common approach in response to Russia’s military concentration on the border with Ukraine,” the spokeswoman for the National Security Council said. Emily Horne.

Blinken and Zelenski spoke of efforts to “peacefully resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine and upcoming diplomatic contacts with Russia,” he added.

Russia rules out concessions

It will be the second telephone conversation between the two leaders in less than a month. In early December, Biden threatened Putin with sanctions “the likes of which he has never seen” if he attacks Ukraine.

Russia claims to act in response to what it sees as hostility from the West and recently submitted two draft treaties to prevent NATO expansion and end the military activities of Western powers near Russian borders. Above all, he wants to prevent Ukraine from becoming a member of the Atlantic Alliance.

The negotiations in Gibebra are tense. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has ruled out any “concessions” from the outset and the United States had already warned that some Russian requests were “unacceptable.”