(Washington) Two days after a virtual summit with Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden set out Thursday to reassure the Ukrainian president as well as the allies of the United States in Eastern Europe in the face of the threat of a Russian military offensive against Ukraine.
The US president reiterated to Volodymyr Zelensky his “unwavering commitment” to the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine” in a conversation that lasted about an hour and a half, according to a White House statement.
A senior American official also assured, during a telephone press conference, that the American president had made “no concessions” to his Russian counterpart.
He was reacting to press reports that Washington was pressuring Kiev to cede at least part of the control of certain territories in eastern Ukraine occupied by pro-Russian separatists.
“No nation can force another to change its border,” the source said.
“Firm support”
Joe Biden also mentioned in his appeal to Volodymyr Zelensky his support for the Minsk agreements of 2015, now deadlocked, which were to end the deadly conflict ravaging eastern Ukraine.
The US president is according to the White House ready to support “measures to encourage confidence” in this political process.
The US President, in another conversation with nine Eastern European NATO members, promised them to “pursue close consultation and coordination” and asserted the “need for a united position” in within the military alliance.
The Ukrainian president praised him for the “firm support” he said from Joe Biden to his country.
During their call, MM. Biden and Zelensky notably “discussed possible formats for resolving the conflict in Donbass”, an eastern Ukrainian region which has been the scene of bloody clashes since 2014, said the Ukrainian head of state.
The West has accused Russia for more than a month of massing tens of thousands of soldiers near the Ukrainian border. The Kremlin claims to respond to “provocations”.
Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin spoke for two hours on Tuesday without managing to ease tensions altogether, although the two camps had mentioned useful discussions.
PHOTO EVGUENY ODINOKOV, SPUTNIK AGENCY, VIA REUTERS
“Russia pursues a foreign policy for peace, but it has the right to protect its security”, commented on this subject Mr. Putin during a press conference in Sochi, believing that to let NATO approach its borders without reacting would be “criminal”.
“If indeed (Putin) invades Ukraine”, there will be “economic consequences like he has never seen before,” Biden said on Wednesday, however ruling out the sending of American troops, Kiev not being not a member of NATO.
“Lie”, according to Moscow
Tensions with Moscow are raising the specter of a deadly outbreak in Ukraine, a poor country in Eastern Europe torn for seven years by a war between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists. This conflict has left more than 13,000 dead.
Russia denies any belligerent inclination towards its neighbor, from which it annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, but categorically opposes the accession of this former Soviet republic to NATO.
Vladimir Poutine maintained Thursday that the Russian-speaking populations in the Donbass suffered from a “Russophobia”, a “first step towards a genocide”.
The day before, he had said that Moscow had “the right to protect its security”.
For his part, the head of the Russian military staff, General Valéri Guerassimov, on Thursday swept aside the plan to invade Ukraine lent to Moscow as a “lie”.
For now, the West is maintaining diplomatic pressure on Moscow, citing harsh economic sanctions if Russia takes action.
The new German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in particular threatened Moscow with “consequences” for the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to deliver Russian gas to Germany.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Council President Charles Michel also agreed, during an interview, “on the need to impose swift and severe sanctions” if the military escalation escalates.
President Biden has indicated that a Russian attack on Kiev would lead to a strengthening of the US military presence in the territories of NATO members in Eastern Europe.
He also mentioned the sending of additional “means of defense” to Kiev, which will already receive “small arms and ammunition” sent this week as part of an American support plan.