Biden and Putin hold a virtual summit to avoid escalation in Ukraine | world | DW

At a summit held via video conference, the presidents of the United States and Russia, Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin, respectively, held a high-risk exchange this Tuesday (2021.07.2021) with fears of a military escalation in Ukraine as the main challenge..

According to a brief statement issued by the White House after the meeting, US President Joe Biden warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of imposing “economic and other strong measures” if Ukraine was attacked, and demanded that he ease tensions. and “Back to Diplomacy”. . “

During the meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, Biden expressed “the deep concern of the United States and its European allies over the Russian military escalation in and around Ukraine,” according to Washington, which in turn indicated that the US president outperformed US leaders. The United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, the need to “de-escalation.”

“The leaders affirmed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as Russia’s need to reduce tensions and engage in diplomacy,” the statement said.

Putin blames NATO for tension with Ukraine

For his part, President Putin told his US counterpart today that NATO, not Russia, is responsible for the current military tension around Ukraine and demanded “guarantees” that the alliance will not expand to the east, the Kremlin said in a statement. Released after the virtual summit.

“It is not necessary to place all the responsibility on Russia, since it is precisely NATO that is making dangerous attempts to colonize Ukrainian lands and increasing its military potential on our borders,” the official memo reads.

The United States warns that the Russian gas pipeline will be at stake

On the sidelines, the United States emphasized that the future of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which will carry Russian gas to Germany across the bottom of the Baltic Sea, would be at stake if Russia invaded Ukraine, citing talks with Germany. government on this issue.

“If Vladimir Putin wants to see gas flowing through this pipeline, he may not want to risk invading Ukraine,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a news conference after the virtual summit between the two presidents.

they will follow

After the conversation, the two presidents “assigned their teams to follow up” on what was said, and the United States plans to do so “in a coordinated manner with its allies and partners,” particularly in Europe, according to the White House.

The CEO of the United States announced that Biden should report on the conversation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the coming days.

The United States believes that Russia can attack or invade Ukraine with about 175,000 troops, and Kiev estimates that the most likely moment for a new Russian aggression will be at the end of January 2022.

ee (afp/efe)