US President Joe Biden urged his Russian counterpart to reconsider deploying more troops near the Ukrainian border. Russia says the troops are there to conduct military drills.
This was the second conversation between Biden and Putin since Biden became president in JanuaryImage: Eric Baradat/Pavel Golovkin/AFP
Advertisement
US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin talked on the phone Tuesday and discussed the increased Russian troop deployment on the border with Ukraine and a potential summit in a third country.
A White House statement said Biden "voiced our concerns over the sudden Russian military build-up in occupied Crimea and on Ukraine's borders, and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions."
The statement added that the US would "act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to Russia's actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference."
Biden proposed meeting with his Russian counterpart in a third country, with the White House saying Biden wanted a "stable and predictable relationship" with Russia.
The two leaders have met in person before, but only when Biden was vice presidentImage: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP/dpa/picture alliance
The Kremlin said "both sides expressed their readiness to continue dialogue on the most important areas of ensuring global security" in a statement.
The statement also said Biden proposed a summit, but did not say if Putin agreed.
Russia has moved thousands of combat-ready troops to its border with Ukraine this year, in the largest such movement since Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Fighting has become more intense in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks between government forces and Russian-backed separatists.
According to Ukraine's government, the seven-year conflict has killed 14,000 people.
Eastern Ukraine: Saber-rattling between Moscow and Kyiv
Tanks rumble past, cannons thunder: Both Russia and Ukraine have reinforced military presence at their common border in the Donbass region. Both sides are accusing each other of provocation. Is escalation imminent?
Image: Serhoy Takhmazov/Reuters
Troops deployed to the Donbass region
In the first week of April, Russia had begun to build up its military presence at the border with Ukraine. This was a reaction to Ukraine's "provocations" — which were aimed at escalating the conflict between Russian separatists and Ukrainian government troops, the Kremlin said. According to observers sent by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), there was no provocation.
A tank fires during control checks of Russia's armed forces. On both sides of the Russian-Ukrainian border, troops are testing the combat readiness of their weapon systems. This thumbnail was taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
The US, NATO and the EU have pledged support for Ukraine's efforts to defend its territory. Ankara said on Friday that the US had already announced at the end of March that it would be sending two warships to the Black Sea in mid-April. The USS Thomas Hudner (pictured) is one of two missile destroyers which sailed through the Bosporus in March.
Image: Murad Sezer/REUTERS
War raging for seven years
The conflict in eastern Ukraine broke out in early 2014, when pro-Russian rebels seized control in parts of the Ukrainian districts of Donetsk and Luhansk. According to the Ukrainian government and its Western allies, the Kremlin supports the rebels unofficially by providing mercenaries and weapons. Since 2014, several ceasefires have been agreed upon. They were, however, broken time and again.
Image: Oleksandr Klymenko/REUTERS
Civilians bear the brunt
A Donetsk resident inspects the ruins of his house, destroyed during a conflict between militants of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Ukrainian armed forces. Although mainly soldiers, mercenaries, rebels and militiamen are involved in the conflict, the civilian population is repeatedly affected. At the beginning of 2019, the UN recorded 3,300 civilians killed.
Image: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
Ceasefires and hostilities
Since 2014, combat activities of varying intensity have claimed the lives of a total of more than 13,000 people. The current ceasefire, in force since July 2020, is relatively stable, according to the OSCE. Recently, however, hostilities have increased again. At least seven Ukrainian government soldiers and a five-year-old boy were killed during the last two weeks.
Image: Serhiy Takhmazov/Reuters
Boosting the troops' morale
During a visit to the Donbass region earlier in the week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy inspected the situation on the ground and honored soldiers for services rendered. On Saturday, he will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. According to Ukrainian media reports, a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron is on the agenda as well.
Image: Presidency of Ukraine/picture alliance
Russian citizens on Ukrainian soil
By international law, the renegade areas belong to Ukraine. However, some 400,000 residents with Russian citizenship inhabit the zone. "To protect them," Moscow announced on Friday, the Kremlin would take action. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, meanwhile, said that "Russia now has more troops on the border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014."
Image: Alexander Usenko/AA/picture alliance
8 images1 | 8
The Biden-Putin call came as Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with top NATO officials in Brussels, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the alliance chief, Jens Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg tweeted Russia "must end its military build-up in and around Ukraine, stop its provocations & de-escalate immediately."
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu responded by saying the troops were deployed near Ukraine's border for "combat training exercises" in response to NATO's military movements. In televised remarks, Shoigu said the exercises would be finished in two weeks.
If Biden and Putin meet, it would be the first such summit between the nations since 2018, and the first since Biden became president.
Trump's European trip 'an unblemished win for Putin'
06:15
This browser does not support the video element.
During the previous US-Russia summit, Putin met with then-US President Donald Trump in Helsinki. Trump was lambasted for his remarks at the meeting, at which they discussed Russia's being accused of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and the tense relations between the two countries. Relations soured after Trump backpedaled on the statements he made in Helsinki, including the claims that Russia did not interfere with the 2016 US election.
Trump backpedals on Helsinki comments
00:41
This browser does not support the video element.
Trump also called Russia, China and the European Union "foes" the night before the summit began. Trump's comments led German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to say the European Union could no longer rely on the US.
Advertisement
US intelligence in the mix
According to a report from the director of national US intelligence released Tuesday, Russia would likely "continue to employ a variety of tactics this year" in an attempt to undermine the US government and divide international alliances.
One of those tactics could include "destabilization efforts against Ukraine while settlement talks and low-level fighting continues."
But, according to the 27-page report, "Russia does not want a direct conflict with US forces" and "we expect Moscow to seek opportunities for pragmatic cooperation with Washington on its own terms."
