Russia (bbabo.net), - On Saturday, February 12, Vladimir Putin had three important telephone conversations with his colleagues - the Presidents of the United States, France and Belarus. It was about long-term guarantees of Russia's security and the situation around Ukraine, including those related to provocations about alleged plans for a Russian invasion of the territory of this state. Moscow will soon respond to US and NATO responses on security assurances.
The conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States lasted a little over an hour and was devoted to the most important topic today - the issues of ensuring long-term legally fixed security guarantees for the Russian Federation. The conversation took place "in an atmosphere of unprecedented whipping up of hysteria by American officials about Russia's supposedly imminent invasion of Ukraine," Yury Ushakov, an aide to the Russian leader, told reporters following the results. "Referring to the likelihood of such a catastrophic scenario, the American side requested today's telephone conversation between the presidents," he explained.
Although it was planned to be held on February 14th. Other members of the administration also asked for urgent telephone conversations with their Russian colleagues. "That is, the escalation around the topic of the invasion was carried out in a coordinated manner and the hysteria reached its climax," the Kremlin official assessed. Nevertheless, the conversation between the two leaders was balanced and businesslike.
Joe Biden referred to the experience of his predecessors, who during the Cold War years did everything possible to avoid a catastrophe, a serious conflict between our countries, and said that the two powers are still competitors, but must do everything to maintain stability and security. He stressed that the worst-case scenario in the context of the situation around Ukraine should be avoided, and assured that he was in favor of the diplomatic path. Biden outlined a number of considerations that, in his opinion, take into account many of the Russian concerns and initiatives from the draft documents on security assurances handed over to the Americans and NATO.
Vladimir Putin noted that the considerations will be carefully analyzed and they will undoubtedly be taken into account, but they do not affect the key elements of Russian initiatives: neither the expansion of NATO, nor the non-deployment of strike forces on Ukrainian territory, nor the return of the configuration of the Alliance forces to the state of 1997. There are no substantive answers to these topics. Many of the steps mentioned during the conversation are already in the responses received from Washington and NATO to the Russian proposals.
As expected, Biden spoke about possible tough anti-Russian sanctions in the context of the situation in Ukraine, but the emphasis in the conversation was not on that. Putin outlined the fundamental approaches in detail, explaining why right now it is necessary to resolve issues on which the national security of the Russian Federation depends, touched on the history of relations between the United States, NATO and Russia, which ultimately led to the current crisis. In particular, he noted that during the years of the Cold War, the USSR and the USA were 100% adversaries, and in the 90s they seemed to be friends, but even then the States pursued an unconstructive line and NATO approached the borders of Russia.
Putin highlighted in detail the destructive line of the Ukrainian authorities to sabotage the Minsk agreements, which has been carried out in recent years, and noted the lack of proper pressure from the West to ensure that Kiev fulfills its obligations. He drew attention to the danger of the militarization of Ukraine, its pumping with modern weapons, which Western countries are purposefully doing, encouraging the possibility of provocation by Ukrainian security forces in relation to Donbass and Crimea. Given Kiev's intention to return the peninsula by force, Ukraine's hypothetical entry into NATO is fraught with the most dangerous consequences, including direct military confrontation between Russia and the Alliance. Putin told Biden about this in detail.
Tension has been escalating around the movement of our troops on our territory, albeit not far from the Ukrainian borders, for several months
"Around the movement of our troops on our territory, even if not far from the Ukrainian borders, tension has been escalating for more than a month. In recent days, the situation has simply been brought to the point of absurdity," Ushakov assessed. “The Americans are artificially inflating hysteria around the so-called planned Russian invasion, even naming dates, and in parallel, together with the allies, they are pumping up the “military muscles” of Ukraine, significant financial resources are being allocated for the modernization of the Ukrainian army, the number of army instructors sent is increasing,” he continued. allegations of an invasion create preconditions for possible provocative actions by the Ukrainian armed forces.” "We have outlined our considerations and stressed several times that we do not understand why we should pass false information about our Russian intentions to the media," the presidential aide added.The heads of state agreed that the considerations expressed by Biden would be taken into account, if possible, in response to the responses of the United States and NATO. In the near future, it will be brought to the attention of partners and the public, Ushakov assured. "It was said that we have almost completed the interdepartmental study of our possible actions and this will be announced in the near future," he said. Biden also noted that he wants relations between Russia and the United States to be built on the basis of mutual respect, and the leaders agreed to continue contacts at various levels on the topics raised in the conversation.
Before the conversation with Biden, Putin spoke with Emmanuel Macron. Recently, the French leader was on visits to Moscow and Kiev, and also talked with the leaders of a number of European countries. Then he requested a telephone conversation with a Russian colleague. The presidents exchanged views on the issues of guaranteeing Russia's security and overcoming the impasse in resolving the intra-Ukrainian conflict. Putin again drew attention to the lack of a meaningful response from the United States and NATO to Russian initiatives and emphasized the reluctance of leading Western countries to push the Kiev authorities to implement the Minsk agreements, which once again showed an unsuccessful round of consultations of political advisers to the Normandy Four leaders in Berlin. Putin and Macron discussed the situation of provocative speculation about an allegedly planned Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Also on Saturday, a telephone conversation took place between the presidents of Russia and Belarus. The leaders discussed issues of bilateral cooperation and the situation around the reaction of the United States and NATO to proposals for the development of long-term security guarantees for Russia, and also agreed on personal contacts.
A view from the USA
The US administration and the Western press continue to publicly impose Ukraine as the main topic of dialogue with Russia, thus replacing the agenda proposed by Moscow on security guarantees. In a press release from the White House following the talks between the two leaders, only the topic of the allegedly upcoming "Russian invasion" of Ukraine was mentioned, with which American officials have been intimidating partners for several months now. The text also says that the US is "ready for both diplomacy and other scenarios."There is not a word about the dialogue on security guarantees in the press release, but in a conversation with reporters, a White House spokesman confirmed on condition of anonymity that the Russian and US presidents discussed European security issues. In particular, Joseph Biden voiced the ideas of the American side regarding issues of concern to Russia, and also spoke about what worries the United States and its allies. Washington does not want to comment in detail on the content of these discussions in public. In general, the White House spokesman called the conversation "professional and substantive", but, referring to Ukraine, noted that "there have been no fundamental changes in the dynamics for several weeks now."
Separate talks on Saturday were held at the level of heads of foreign affairs agencies. The US State Department reported that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, in a conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, also assured of his readiness to follow the "diplomatic path" to resolve the situation around Ukraine.
At the same time, in recent days, American officials, and at their suggestion, the Western press, through all channels, have raised the degree of hysteria around Ukraine to the limit. Allegations about the growing threat of military conflict are heard endlessly, more new dates are called. Against this background, the State Department announced the departure of most of the staff of the US Embassy in Kiev. The diplomatic mission will suspend the provision of most consular services, leaving only a small group of employees performing critical functions. The Pentagon, in turn, reported that about 160 American military instructors would be moved "somewhere in Europe" from Ukraine. The US is also calling on all its citizens to leave Ukraine immediately.
At the same time, the Americans continue to increase their military presence in Eastern Europe, as well as supply weapons to Kiev. According to RIA Novosti with reference to the Pentagon, an additional 3,000 American soldiers will be transferred to Poland next week.
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