The US President speaks with his counterpart in the early afternoon (US time). Source: (Adam Schultz / The White House via AP)
(Photo: AP)
Wilmington 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. CET, i.e. in the afternoon in the USA and shortly before midnight in Moscow.
The Ukraine conflict should therefore be right at the top of the agenda, but also a number of other topics, such as the upcoming security talks in January and Iran’s nuclear program. Both the White House and the Kremlin were expected to release details of the conversation after the phone call. At the beginning of December, the two presidents spoke to each other in a video link.
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 for years been confronted with an armed uprising by pro-Russian separatists in the east of their country.
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 at the Easter end. 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.
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