On the eve of a meeting between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, the White House announces the color: if Russia attacks Ukraine, the United States is ready to take financial sanctions and to station more troops in Europe than the East, without going as far as a direct military response.
A senior White House official detailed in a press conference Monday the levers the United States is ready to operate.
“If Putin moved, there would be increased demand from our Eastern European allies” for “more troops, capabilities and exercises,” and “the United States would respond favorably,” the source said. .
The senior official, however, made it clear that a direct US military response, in the event of an attack on Ukraine, was not currently being considered. “The United States is not seeking to find itself in a position where the direct use of American forces is at the center of our thinking,” the source said.
Washington intends to favor, in the event of an invasion of Ukraine, “a combination” of several elements: “support for the Ukrainian army”, “strong economic sanctions” and “a substantial increase in support and capacities with our allies within NATO ”.
The American president will meet with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, “in the days following” his meeting with Vladimir Poutine, again indicated the senior official of the White House.
In addition, the US president “will meet later today with key European allies to coordinate the message” that he will send by videoconference to his Russian counterpart, and ensure that he “addresses this conversation with Vladimir Putin in unity with the allies and in strong transnational solidarity ”.
No “breakthrough”
The Kremlin said Monday not to expect a “breakthrough” during the virtual interview.
The conversation between the two men should mainly revolve around Ukraine. Kiev and its allies accuse Russia of having massed troops and tanks on its border in anticipation of an attack.
Moscow for its part denies any bellicose intention, but puts forward certain demands, in particular a commitment that Ukraine will not join NATO, as a large number of countries of the former Soviet bloc have done.
“We don’t know if President Putin has made a decision on a possible military escalation in Ukraine. But we know it is building up the capabilities to initiate such an escalation, ”the US source said.
However, neither Kiev nor the United States intend to make such a commitment even if, in fact, the procedure for Ukraine’s accession to the military alliance, although officially open, seems frozen.
The US president and his Russian counterpart have already spoken on the phone in January, April and July, and saw each other in flesh and blood in Geneva last July.
This time they use another format, that of “secure” videoconferencing, the White House said.
Joe Biden had already spoken recently by interposed screens with the Chinese President, Xi Jinping.
The American president has never mince words about Vladimir Putin, doubting that the latter has a “soul” and even calling him a “killer” in public.
He also claims to be the champion of democracy in the world, a position difficult to hold if the United States turns a blind eye to another Russian attack on Ukraine.
But the 79-year-old Democrat is also hoping, or at least hoped so far, to establish a “stable and predictable” relationship with Russia.
Vladimir Putin is keen to assert Russia as a power in the global geopolitical game, today dominated by the rivalry between China and the United States.
Ukraine has been torn since 2014 by a war that has left more than 13,000 dead between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, which Russia is accused by the West of supporting. The conflict started after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.