Biden tells Putin that US and its allies will react 'decisively' if Russia invades Ukraine

In a telephone call on Thursday, US President Joe Biden told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Washington and its allies will react “decisively” if Ukraine is invaded. While speaking to reporters, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that during the 50-minute phone call, Biden urged Putin to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine. He also expressed support for diplomacy, starting early next year with bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue, at NATO through the NATO-Russia Council, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. 

"President Joseph R Biden spoke today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and urged Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement on Thursday.

"Biden made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine," the statement added.

Further, Biden went on to reiterate that substantive progress in the dialogues can occur only in an environment of de-escalation rather than escalation. Separately, a senior administration official said that Biden’s call with Putin was “serious and substantive”. He laid out two paths, one focused on democracy and the other focused on deterrence and “significant costs and consequences" should Russia choose to proceed with the further invasion of Ukraine, the official said. 

US will continue ‘very intensive period of consultation’ 

The primary purpose of the call was to set the “tone and tenor of diplomatic engagement” scheduled for next month, the senior administration told reporters, adding that the upcoming talks will help determine more precisely the contours of the areas where there can be an agreement between the two leaders. Washington’s focus is “really on actions and on indicators not on words”. The US will continue to prepare for whatever decision Putin makes with regard to Ukraine, the officials said.

Moreover, he also stated that the US will continue a “very intensive period of consultation” with allies over the next week before the NATO-Russia council talks. "There will be a very careful and very intensive coordination transparency among our partners and allies," the official said, as quoted by CBS News. 

It is to mention that the phone call comes during a time when the relations between the US and Russia have sunk to their lowest since the end of the Cold War. This is the second call in the month between the two leaders amid soaring tensions in Ukraine. Biden has repeatedly highlighted concerns of the US and its European allies about the increase in deployment of Russian forces surrounding Ukraine. Putin, on the other hand, has voiced rising vexation over Western military aid to Ukraine, a fellow former USSR that has tilted towards the West since a revolt toppled a pro-Russian president in 2014, and what it calls creeping NATO expansion. 

(Image: AP)