President Joe Biden’s hour-long phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin this morning was professional and substantive, a senior US government official told reporters. CNNbut there has been no fundamental change in the dynamics that have been unfolding for several weeks, according to the same source.
According to the official, the two presidents have agreed that our teams will remain engaged in the coming days. For him, Russia may decide to proceed with military action anyway. In fact, this is a distinct possibility.
The call comes a day after US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned that Russia could be preparing to attack Ukraine ahead of the end of the Beijing Olympics on Feb. should leave the country within 48 hours.
The US continued to reduce its diplomatic presence in Kiev, the official said, echoing a State Department announcement this morning that more US diplomats will leave the capital.
The official also said that the US remains committed to keeping alive the prospect of de-escalation through diplomacy, but that it is also mindful of the prospects for it, given the readily apparent steps Russia is taking on the ground in plain sight, right in front of the everyone’s eyes.
Still according to him, the risks of the crisis are too high not to give Russia every chance to avoid an action that we believe to be catastrophic.
The official also said that Biden reiterated US ideas for measures to enhance European security and address some of Russia’s security concerns, but noted that it remains uncertain whether Russia is interested in pursuing its goals diplomatically.
Asked if Russia made the decision to invade, the official said he thinks the honest answer to that question is that we don’t have full visibility into President Putin’s decision-making.
The US official said he does not base the US assessment on what the Russians say publicly, but rather on what is being seen on land, the continued accumulation of Russians on the Ukrainian border, and no significant evidence of de-escalation, or indeed of any kind. interest in cooling.
The official said the US will continue and even increase its support for Ukraine to help it defend itself if Russia continues to increase its aggression.
To him, Biden and other officials made it clear that if Russia continues on the escalation path, the United States will continue to increase our support for Ukraine, to allow it to defend itself, and you know, that approach hasn’t changed.
DJ Judd and Sam Fossum from CNN contributed stories to this post.
Source: CNN Brasil
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