Biden threatens Putin with “tough sanctions” against Ukraine – Al-Manar TV Lebanon

US President Joe Biden has threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin with “severe sanctions” if Russia launches military action in neighboring Ukraine, despite Moscow rejecting claims by Washington of preparing to invade the neighboring country.

Biden told reporters on Friday in Wilmington, Delaware, that he threatened the Russian leader during their phone call on Thursday.

“I made it clear to President Putin that if he takes any other action, if he goes to Ukraine, we will have severe sanctions. We will increase our presence in Europe with our NATO allies. There will be a heavy price to pay for this, ”Biden said.

Reporters asked Biden how the Russian president responded, he said the United States and Russia would continue to seek ways to resolve the conflict over Ukraine.

“What I got the impression was that he agreed that we will have three big conferences in Europe starting in the middle of the month with our senior managers… he didn’t disagree with any of this. He laid out some of his concerns about NATO and the United States in Europe, and we laid out ours and said we can start negotiating some of these issues, ”Biden said.

According to Moscow, Putin warned Biden that any new sanctions against Moscow could completely upset Russian-American relations.

Putin issued the warning after Biden reiterated US claims that Russia could “invade” Ukraine, saying Washington would impose “devastating” sanctions on Moscow in the event of such an incursion, Reuters reported, citing Kremlin assistant Yuri Ushakov.

“Our president immediately responded [to the sanctions threat] that if the West decides in these or other circumstances to impose these unprecedented sanctions, which have been mentioned, it could lead to a complete severing of ties between our countries, ”said Ushakov.

Such a coercive economic embargo would also have the effect of “causing the most serious damage to relations between Russia and the West,” he noted.

The United States and its Western allies have cited a Russian military build-up along the Ukrainian border for their demands against Russia. Moscow denies that it intends to “invade” Ukraine, in addition to stressing that it can move its troops within its own borders as it sees fit.

Last month, Biden also said he made it clear to Putin that Russia would pay “a terrible price” and face devastating economic consequences if it invaded Ukraine.

“I made it clear to President Putin (…) that if he went to Ukraine, the economic consequences for his economy would be devastating, devastating,” he said.

Biden said he made it clear to the Russian president that Moscow’s position in the world would change “markedly” if Ukraine invaded.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also warned Russia against an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.

“There will be a high price to pay for Russia if it again resorts to force against the nation’s independence,” he said, according to Reuters.

In response, Putin warned that Moscow would act if the US-led NATO military alliance crossed its red lines in Ukraine.

Putin said the expansion of NATO’s military infrastructure in Ukraine was a red line he hoped not to cross.

The Russian leader further said that Moscow would consider the deployment of certain offensive missile capabilities on Ukrainian soil as a trigger.

Washington and its allies have been rehashing what they claim to be Moscow’s ill-intentioned plans for Ukraine since 2014, when a wave of protests toppled Ukraine’s democratically elected pro-Moscow government and replaced it with a leaning administration. western.

A crisis followed after the majority of the inhabitants of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk refused to accept the new changes and took up arms against Ukrainian troops.

Kiev and Western countries accuse Moscow of having participated in the crisis. Moscow denies the allegations.

Source: Agencies