NEW YORK (Dispatches) – Russian President Vladimir Putin warned U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday that any economic sanctions imposed on Russia could result in a “complete rupture” of relations between the two countries, a Russian official told reporters.
The exchange came during a 50-minute phone call, which both sides described as businesslike.
American officials declined to discuss the substance of the discussion, insisting that, unlike the Russians, they would not negotiate in public. But it was clear that both sides were trying to shape the diplomatic landscape for talks that will begin in Geneva on Jan. 10, and then move to Brussels and Vienna later in the week in sessions that will include NATO allies and then Ukraine itself.
During the conversation Putin repeatedly said the United States and NATO nations of placing offensive weapons near Russia’s borders, imperiling the country’s security.
In Moscow, Yuri V. Ushakov, Mr. Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said the Russian president had conveyed Moscow’s expectation that the upcoming talks would lead to “legally formulated guarantees of security” for Russia. He added that the conversation had created a “positive background” for negotiations in January, but that no compromises had been reached.
Biden has attempted a two-track approach, trying to deter Russia with unusually specific warnings about imposing a series of sanctions that would go far beyond what the West agreed upon in 2014.
Ushakov said Putin warned that any new, harsh sanctions would be a mistake, and that, as Ushakov put it, “in this situation, it’s better not to make such mistakes.” But he also said that Biden had observed more than once during the call that “it’s impossible to win” a nuclear war — something Biden has often said in public.
While the tone of the call was constructive, according to the Kremlin aide, Putin repeated his claims that Russia felt threatened by an encroaching NATO. He said that Russia would “conduct itself as the United States would behave if offensive weapons were near the United States.”
Russia Calls On U.S. to Heed Demands
Following top-level talks between the Putin and Bifden, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday warned Russia will move to “eliminate unacceptable threats” if the United States and NATO do not respond to the Kremlin’s security demands.
Lavrov told Russia’s state-run Ria Novosti news agency that the foreign ministry would not allow the proposals to be rolled up in “endless discussions” as tensions simmer between Moscow and Western powers over Ukraine, where fears of a possible Russian invasion have risen in recent months, increased by Moscow’s deployment of tens of thousands of troops along the two countries shared border.
The Kremlin says NATO’s expansion eastward and Kyiv’s growing ties with the body have undermined security in the region.
Moscow claims such developments threaten Russia, contravene assurances given to it as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and compares with the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the world came to the brink of nuclear war.
Lavrov said Moscow would take “all necessary measures to ensure a strategic balance” in the event its concerns were ignored.