Faced with tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the leaders of Germany, USA, France, Italy and the United Kingdom have expressed their determination for the sovereignty of Ukraine to be respected, said the French Presidency in a statement on Monday (6).
The countries also underscored their commitment to acting to maintain peace and security in Europe and the need for Russia to reactivate negotiations with Ukraine within the framework of the “Normandy Quartet”, a diplomatic group that also includes France and Germany.
US officials warned last month of an unusual Russian troop movement of 94,000 troops near the Ukrainian border, and expressed concern over a possible Russian offensive in January that would involve 175,000 troops — which Moscow denies and calls alarmism. The Biden government has already said it “prepares comprehensive and meaningful actions” to help Kiev in the event of an invasion.
The statement from the Élysée Palace was released after a videoconference between the five leaders on the eve of the virtual bilateral meeting scheduled for this Tuesday (7) between the American Joe Biden and the Russian Vladimir Putin.
The meeting between the US and Europeans is part of meetings with key allies planned by Biden to coordinate the message and strong transnational solidarity. In this regard, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke today by telephone with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski.
“We agree to continue with our joint and combined actions,” wrote the Ukrainian, who, wearing a helmet and a camouflaged bulletproof vest, today visited the trenches on the front lines of the conflict against pro-Russian separatists in the region. Donbass in eastern Ukraine.
Biden, in turn, will speak with Zelenski in the following days following the meeting with Putin.
Russia also spoke out on Monday amid warnings from Western powers. The state of relations between Moscow and Washington was called “very deplorable” by Russian government spokesman Dmitri Peskov, speaking about the agenda for the meeting between the two presidents.
He specifically cited three topics of conversation: “The tension around Ukraine, the topic of NATO’s advance on our borders and President Putin’s initiatives to ensure security,” he said.
The Kremlin denies an imminent invasion and claims troops are deployed throughout its own territory for purely defensive reasons. For Moscow, the increased presence of NATO, a military coalition of Western powers, around former Soviet republics, and the possibility of the group deploying missiles in Ukraine aimed at Russia, is “a red line” that the United States will not be able to cross.
Putin is demanding security assurances that NATO will not expand across the region and will not deploy weapons near Russian territory, while Washington has repeated that no country can veto NATO’s alliance with Ukraine. “I don’t take red lines from anyone,” Biden said last Friday.
A US government official told reporters on Monday that Biden must alert Putin of the serious economic consequences the country will face if it invades Ukraine, and must say the country does not want to have to use force in the region.
The United States last week offered to mediate negotiations between Moscow and Kiev to end the conflicts that resulted in the ousting of the Ukrainian government nearly eight years ago, as well as negotiate an end to Russian support for separatist groups. Serguei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, says Moscow has no objections to this at first.
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