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President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will speak by phone Saturday as US officials warn that Russia may launch an invasion of Ukraine within days.
A White House official told The Post “they will be speaking Saturday morning. Russia proposed a call Monday. We counter-proposed Saturday, and they accepted.”
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday at the daily White House press briefing that US citizens should leave the Eastern European country within “24 to 48 hours.”
Biden said Thursday he would not deploy US troops to Ukraine to evacuate Americans if Russia does invade, telling NBC’s Lester Holt that doing so could lead to a “world war”.
Putin is demanding that NATO rule out ever accepting Ukraine as a member, which NATO has rejected. Biden has said, however, that he doesn’t anticipate Ukraine being admitted to the Atlantic alliance anytime soon.
The US says Putin has massed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders. The White House recently alleged Russia may stage a “false flag” attack on its own forces to provide a justification for war
When Biden was vice president in 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula and then annexed the territory from Ukraine following a disputed referendum. Putin’s government also allegedly supports a pair of pro-Russia breakaway states in eastern Ukraine.
On Monday, Biden threatened to penalize Russia by blocking operation of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, which is poised to begin piping fuel directly to Germany from Russia rather than transiting through Ukraine.
“If Russia invades — that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again — then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Biden said during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Scholz said “we are absolutely united and we will not be taking different steps,” but pointedly refused to say the words “Nord Stream 2” when pressed by reporters at the White House.
Scholz is scheduled to meet with Putin in Moscow on Tuesday.
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