From the White House it was said that the US government was in close contact with European allies and partners.
(Photo: AP)
Washington Given the ongoing tensions over Ukraine, US President Joe Biden plans to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone this Thursday. The National Security Council of the White House announced on Wednesday. It was about the preparation of the consultations at diplomatic level, it said.
This probably means a meeting planned for January 10 in Geneva on the Ukraine conflict, which has been worsening for weeks, and the NATO security guarantees demanded by Moscow. The Kremlin in Moscow confirmed the planned phone call.
The conversation was planned for the late evening, said spokesman Dmitri Peskow of the Interfax agency. An exact time was initially not communicated either in Washington or in Moscow.
The White House said the US government is in close contact with European allies and partners to coordinate the response to the growing Russian military presence on the border with Ukraine. The National Security Council continued to explain that Biden had already spoken to colleagues in Europe about this personally.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Previously there had been criticism from Brussels that the European Union should be involved in the planned talks in Geneva. “We do not want to and must not be an uninvolved audience, whose heads are decided,” said the EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell of the “Welt” on Wednesday.
USA accuses Russia of massive troop deployment
Biden and Putin spoke at the beginning of December as part of a two-hour video link. As heads of state, Putin and Biden first met personally in Geneva in June.
The US has been accusing Russia of a massive deployment of troops not far from the border with Ukraine for weeks. A Russian invasion of the ex-Soviet republic is feared in the West. Russia rejects this and again accuses Ukraine of having moved more soldiers to the line to the separatist areas.
The developments bring back bad memories of 2014. At that time, Russia had annexed the Crimean peninsula and started supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine, which is still ongoing.
Putin agreed to a diplomatic solution last week, but at the same time demanded security guarantees. This included an end to NATO’s eastward expansion, and with it a waiver of NATO membership for Ukraine.
More: Gazprom boss: Nord Stream 2 is ready for operation – despite the lack of a permit