Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in a conference call in Moscow on November 2, 2021 on the sidelines of the UN climate summit COP26 in Glasgow.
Sputnik | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration reiterated Saturday that the United States will “not make a firm commitment” during diplomatic talks with Russia next week.
The talks between Washington and Moscow take place amid an impressive stationing of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border.
A senior administrative official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, warned on Saturday of Russian disinformation ahead of diplomatic talks due to begin next week in Geneva.
“I can assure you in advance that there will be no firm commitment to these serious and concrete but exploratory talks and allies later in the week,” the senior administrator told reporters.
For months, Kiev has been warning the US and its European allies that tens of thousands of Russian troops are gathering on the eastern border. The armament has evoked echoes of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula, which sparked international turmoil and sparked a series of sanctions against Moscow.
“While we would prefer to diplomatically de-escalate if Russia chooses this other path, we are more than ready and fully in agreement with our partners and allies in getting Russia through financial sanctions and export controls targeting key industries to impose heavy costs, “improving the position of NATO forces in Allied territory and increasing security assistance to Ukraine,” a senior official told reporters.
When asked, the official declined to elaborate on the specific steps the Biden government was ready to take.
“We will know a lot more about our path in about a week,” the official said, adding that the US will attend the meetings with a “sense of realism, not optimism”.
“We stand ready to see if Russia comes to these talks with seriousness and willingness to discuss these issues in a concrete and result-oriented manner,” added the official.
The Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The latest revelation follows a high-level phone call between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin amid a major military build-up on the Ukrainian border.
The call on December 30, the second known conversation between the two heads of state and government that month, was scheduled at Putin’s request.
U.S. President Joe Biden performs on Jan.
The White House via Reuters
Biden reiterated his concerns and threatened again that his government, along with allies and partners, would “react decisively” if Russia continued to invade Ukraine.
The Russian president had previously insisted that Moscow, despite deploying thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border, did not prepare for an invasion of its former Soviet neighbor. Putin is also defending the right to station troops on Russia’s borders and accusing NATO of escalating tensions by building up military forces in Russia’s neighboring states.
Russia has called the eastward expansion of NATO a “red line”, which poses a security threat to Moscow.
Biden refused to accept Putin’s “red lines” on Ukraine during their two-hour video call on December 7th.
Since 2002 Ukraine has been trying to join NATO, the most powerful military alliance in the world, in which, according to Article 5 of the group, an attack on one member country is considered an attack on all.
Next week, US and Russian officials will hold security talks focusing on arms control agreements, NATO and Russian military activities, and mounting tensions over Ukraine. The January 10 meeting will take place as part of the Strategic Security Dialogue announced by Biden and Putin during their June summit in Geneva.
