Biden to phone Ukrainian president on Sunday


By SudOuest.fr with AFP

After Vladimir Putin, it is the turn of Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, to meet with Joe Biden The US President will reaffirm his support for the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine

Joe Biden will phone Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday after warning his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin this week against any attempted invasion of the country, the White House announced on Friday.

“I said clearly to President Putin that we would adopt severe sanctions and that we would increase our presence in Europe, among our NATO allies”, declared the American president questioned Friday on his telephone conversation the day before with Putin. “We were clear: he cannot, I repeat, he cannot invade Ukraine,” he told a few reporters at the exit of a restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware, where he passes. with the family the end of year celebrations.

The president “will reaffirm American support for the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” said a White House official. Joe Biden “will discuss the Russian military deployment on the borders of Ukraine and will review the preparations for the next diplomatic meetings intended to lower the tension in the region”, added this official.

For his part, the Russian president said that new sanctions against Moscow would be “a colossal mistake”. After this 50-minute telephone conversation – the second in less than a month – the two men nevertheless praised the diplomatic route to get out of the crisis.

Tensions

Volodymyr Zelensky said in a tweet he was impatient to discuss with the American president “the means of coordinating our actions in the interest of peace in Ukraine and security in Europe”.

In addition, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that he telephoned NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday. In a tweet, the head of US diplomacy called on Russia to “participate seriously” in negotiations aimed at de-escalating tensions around Ukraine.

Kiev and its Western allies accuse Moscow of having massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the country’s borders in anticipation of a possible invasion. NATO is “united” and “ready for dialogue”, tweeted for his part Jens Stoltenberg.

The United States and Russia are scheduled to hold talks on Ukraine January 10-11 in Geneva. Led by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and her Russian counterpart Sergei Riabkov, they will be followed on January 12 by a Russia-NATO meeting, then on January 13 by a meeting within the framework of the OSCE.

The United States, accused of leading certain international issues without too much regard for its allies, insists precisely on close coordination with the Europeans and the Ukrainians.

More than 100,000 Russian soldiers are massed near the borders of Ukraine, of which Russia has already annexed part of the territory, Crimea, in 2014. Moscow is also widely regarded as the godfather of the pro-Russian separatists in the conflict which is tearing France apart. ‘Has been in the country for almost eight years.





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