MOSCOW – Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will speak on a video call on Tuesday, the White House and Kremlin said, as tensions between the United States and Russia escalate over Russian troop build-up on the Ukrainian border as a sign of a possible invasion is seen .
Biden will voice US concerns about Russian military activities on the border and “reaffirm US support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Saturday, confirming the planned call after the first words came in from Moscow.
Putin will come to the call with concerns of his own and intends to express Russia’s opposition to any accession of Ukraine to the NATO military alliance. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “the presidents will decide for themselves” how long their talks will last.
The last known call between the leaders came in July when Biden urged Putin to curb Russia-based criminal hacking gangs that are launching ransomware attacks against the US. Biden said the US would take all necessary steps to protect critical infrastructure from such attacks.
Numerous former US and NATO diplomats say such a Russian demand on Biden would be a non-starter.
US intelligence agencies have determined that Russia has around 70,000 soldiers near its border with Ukraine and began planning a possible invasion early next year, according to a Biden government official who was not authorized to report the finding to discuss publicly and continued to speak of the condition of anonymity.
The risks of such an invasion for Putin would be enormous.
US officials and former American diplomats say while the Russian president is clearly laying the groundwork for a possible invasion, the Ukrainian military is better armed and prepared today than in the past, and the threat of sanctions from the West will cause serious damage to the Russian economy.
“What I am doing is putting together what I believe to be the most comprehensive and meaningful initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Mr Putin to go ahead and do what people fear he might do,” Biden said Friday.
Ukrainian officials said Russia could invade next month. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said the number of Russian troops near Ukraine and in Russia-annexed Crimea was estimated at 94,300 and warned that a “large-scale escalation” was possible in January.
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