President Joe Biden again spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday as the United States continues raising the alarm of a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Biden phoned Putin from the presidential retreat at Camp David and the call lasted about an hour. This is the third time Putin and Biden have spoken since Russia began further escalating military tensions on the borders of Ukraine.
“President Biden was clear that, if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia,” the White House revealed in a statement after the call.
The White House said Biden was prepared to “engage in diplomacy” with Russia but that he was also “equally prepared for other scenarios.”
Biden has spoken with Putin multiple times to warn him from invading Ukraine but has not had much success.
The president and his advisers continue warning that Putin could invade Ukraine any day, although they concede that they have no intelligence suggesting the Russian president has made up his mind.
Russia’s readout of the call said the conversation was balanced and “business-like” but accused the United States of contributing to “an atmosphere of unprecedented hysteria.”
They said that it was Biden who requested the call on Saturday, despite existing plans between the two leaders to speak on Monday.
The Russias expressed regret that the United States and NATO refused to rule out expanding NATO to include Ukraine.
They said Biden’s views would be “carefully considered” by the government in Moscow.
Source: Breitbart
