Washington has accused Russia of concentrating troops near the Ukrainian border to intimidate the would-be NATO candidate, suggesting it could be a repeat of what Moscow did in 2014, when it seized the Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea from Ukraine. .
Washington says the West is prepared to impose tough sanctions if Russia invades.
The Kremlin has rejected the idea that its forces are prepared to invade as scaremongering and has said that they move through their own territory for purely defensive purposes.
For Moscow, NATO’s growing rapprochement with a neighboring former Soviet republic – and the possibility of alliance missiles in Ukraine targeting Russia – is a “red line” that will not allow it to be crossed.
Putin has demanded legally binding security guarantees that NATO will not expand further east or place its weapons near Russian territory; Washington has repeatedly said that no country can veto Ukraine’s hopes in NATO.
“I don’t accept anyone’s red lines,” Biden said Friday.
Andrey Kortunov, head of Russia’s Council for International Affairs, close to the Foreign Ministry, said the positions were unlikely to be reconciled.
“The only thing they can probably agree on – if it turns out to be a good conversation – is that everyone directly or indirectly involved in the situation should show restraint and commitment to de-escalate it. But otherwise, I don’t see how Biden he can promise Putin that NATO will not go east. “