Enlarge image
US President Joe Biden on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin at his home in Delaware
Photo: - / AFP
US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met on Thursday for the second time this month.
According to US government officials, the phone call began around 9:35 p.m. and ended 50 minutes later, in the afternoon in the US and around midnight in Moscow, a White House representative said.
According to the White House, Biden called on Putin in the phone call to de-escalate the Ukraine crisis.
According to a spokesman for the Kremlin, Biden said in the conversation that the stationing of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border was unacceptable.
Putin said that sanctions against Moscow could lead to a complete breakdown of diplomatic relations between Russia and the United States.
Further details on the content were initially not given.
In the run-up to the conversation, it had been said that in addition to the Ukraine conflict, a number of other topics, such as the upcoming security talks in January and Iran's nuclear program, should be discussed during the phone call.
The two presidents had already spoken to each other in a video link at the beginning of December.
"Diplomatic way forward"
Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated over the past few years over a number of issues. Most recently, the focus was on the conflict in Ukraine. The deployment of tens of thousands of Russian soldiers near the border with the ex-Soviet republic in recent weeks has raised concerns about an invasion and reminded us of 2014 when Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. In addition, the leadership in Kiev has been confronted with an armed uprising by pro-Russian separatists in the east of their country for years.
The leadership in Moscow denies alleged plans to attack Ukraine and insists on their right to move troops on their own territory as they please. She expresses concern about arms shipments from the West to Ukraine and fears that NATO will be enlarged over the Easter period. Putin is demanding guarantees that the Western military alliance will refrain from this, as well as from the stationing of certain weapon systems in Ukraine or other neighboring countries. In the run-up to the conversation on Thursday, the US Air Force flew a spy plane over eastern Ukraine to gather information about the military situation on the ground, reports the broadcaster CNN.
Both sides had emphasized their willingness to enter into dialogue before the phone call.
The Kremlin said Putin was confident of the possibility of "effective dialogue."
A US government official announced that Biden, currently at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, would offer Putin a "diplomatic path forward."
Bilateral consultations on Ukraine in January
Biden and Putin met in Geneva in June and last had a video call on December 7th.
Representatives of the USA and Russia plan to meet in Geneva on January 10th to discuss the conflict in Ukraine.
Talks between Russia and NATO are planned two days later, and consultations between Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are to follow on January 13.
Russia is demanding security guarantees from the West and has submitted drafts for two agreements with the USA and NATO, which are intended to prohibit the eastward expansion of the military alliance and the establishment of US military bases in states of the former Soviet sphere of influence.
The far-reaching demands were rejected by several NATO members.
col / Reuters / AFP