The US and Russian presidents held a telephone conversation this Saturday where disagreement over Ukraine continues to be the keynote. Biden warned Putin of the "severe and rapid costs" if Moscow invades Ukraine and the Kremlin denounced "US hysteria."
However, later the White House announced that Joe Biden has withdrawn the threats of the United States and its allies against Russia.
Biden told Putin that while the U.S. is prepared to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels, it is "equally prepared" for scenarios other than diplomacy. Biden stressed that an invasion of Ukraine would cause "widespread human suffering" tarnishing Russia's prestige in the world.
For its part, the Kremlin, through press statements by Putin's diplomatic adviser, Yuri Ushakov, denounced what it considers to be American "hysteria" about Ukraine, but added that the two leaders decided to "continue contacts between them."
"Hysteria has reached its peak. In the last few days and hours. The situation has been taken to absurdity," Ushakov criticized, saying that "the Americans are announcing the very date of the Russian invasion and at the same time feeding the military strength of Ukraine."
Putin's advisor acknowledged, however, that the conversation "was quite balanced and professional in nature."
"The presidents agreed that the views expressed by Biden (would) be considered in Moscow and (would) be taken into account in reacting" to the responses that NATO and Washington must provide to Russia's security demands.
This was the first direct conversation between the two leaders since December 30, when Biden and Putin made clear their differences over Ukraine.
The conversation came a day after the US asked its citizens to leave Ukrainian territory in the next 24 to 48 hours due to the "clear possibility" of Russia attacking Ukraine during the Winter Olympics, which run through February 20 in Beijing.
Just a few hours before the call, the U.S. government ordered 160 members of the Florida National Guard (one of its military reserve units) to leave Ukraine as an extreme precautionary measure.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered "the temporary redeployment" of those 160 reservists who have been in Ukraine since last November, the Defense Department announced in a statement.
They are stationed in the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and have provided advice and training to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in recent months.
After leaving Ukraine, the 160 reservists will be placed in other European countries.
The West accuses Russia of massing tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's border to invade the country again, after annexing the Crimean peninsula to it in 2014, and of supporting a separatist war in the Donbass (eastern Ukraine) since then.
Russia denies this intention, but makes the de-escalation of the crisis conditional on demands it says are necessary to ensure its security, including guarantees that Ukraine will never be part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Source: msn