MONITORING (SW) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden has spoken over phone as tension over the situation in Ukraine escalates to new heights.
In a “professional and substantive” phone call that lasted over an hour, according to the White House, Mr Biden warned Mr Putin of “swift and severe costs” including grievous loss of its international standing should it live up to fears Moscow was poised to attack.
“President Biden was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full co-ordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios,” the White House said.
The fresh warnings came a day after US national security Jake Sullivan urged Americans to leave Ukraine within 48 hours and confirmation the US was sending another 3,000 troops from North Carolina bases to eastern Europe, reported the Australian.
The US, which has around 80,000 troops stationed throughout Europe, also said it was transferring 160 US troops out of Ukrainian territory along with all but the most essential diplomatic staff amid new US intelligence suggesting Russia could invade as soon as Wednesday.
According to the Russian state-broadcaster, RT, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov has revealed details of the conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden shortly after the phone talks concluded on Saturday evening.
Speaking to reporters during a media briefing, Ushakov revealed that the talks were staged on Washington’s request with the US citing fears of an allegedly imminent ‘invasion’ of Ukraine by Russia. The Putin-Biden talks were originally scheduled to take place on Monday, the official added.
“The conversation came amid an atmosphere of unprecedented hysteria by US officials over Russia’s supposedly imminent ‘invasion’ of Ukraine,” Ushakov stated.
Putin has criticized Western efforts to militarize and “pump” Ukraine full of modern weaponry, and such policies effectively encourage Kiev to try and resolve the conflict in the country’s east by force, Ushakov noted.
Russia’s president spoke with Biden about “destructive” policies pursued by the Ukrainian authorities to “sabotage” the Minsk agreements, a major 2015 multinational deal that outlined a roadmap out of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev forces face off the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia’s president stressed that the Western countries do not put enough “pressure” on Kiev to fulfill the deal, Ushakov noted.
In a sign of growing tension between the two cold war superpowers, Russia, separately, accused Washington of breaking international law on Saturday and creating a national security threat after a Russian frigate allegedly chased a US submarine out of Russian territorial waters near the Kuril Islands, north east of Japan.
“The US submarine … left Russian territorial waters at maximum speed,” the Russian defence ministry was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The crew of the Marshal Shaposhnikov frigate used “corresponding means” to force the submarine to leave Russian waters after the submarine refused to surface, the Russian defence ministry apparently said.
