The topic of sanctions due to Russia’s actions against Ukraine was raised by US President Joe Biden in talks with Vladimir Putin. The conversation took place on the night of December 30-31 – the leaders were on the phone. During it, Biden announced that he was ready to take “drastic measures” in the event of a military escalation. At the same time, Washington did not disclose the information about what measures were in question. Biden later repeated that he had warned Putin about the risk of sanctions. He also said that the escalation would lead to an increase in the US military presence in Europe. Other NATO member states will take the same steps, he said.

But Vladimir Putin “immediately reacted to this by saying that if the West nevertheless resolves the above-mentioned unprecedented sanctions in these or existing conditions, then all this could lead to a complete rupture of relations between our countries,” said assistant to the leader Yuri Ushakov. As it follows from his words, Putin told Biden that in this case relations between Russia and the United States would be “seriously damaged”.

The sanctions in question are in question. Information about this, in particular, was published by the portal “Politics and Newspaper” The Washington Post. At the end of November, the Pentagon also announced a military transfer to the Ukrainian border.

Commenting on these reports, the Kremlin said that Russia has every right to transfer military personnel to Russian territory. Also, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov says that those who themselves brought their forces from overseas speak of unusual military activity. ” “It’s not entirely logical and not entirely decent,” he added.

Peskov notes that he himself drove his armed forces from overseas. ” “It’s not entirely logical and not entirely decent,” he added.

In mid-December, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the proposals that Russia is putting forward to the United States. Among them, in particular, a proposal to legally fix the provision that the former USSR countries will not be admitted to NATO, and military bases of the alliance will be located on their territory. These guarantees of Russia’s security were discussed by Putin and Biden during the conversation. The Kremlin has indicated that Putin has declared that Russia will “achieve results in the form of ensuring the guaranteed security of Russia.” Biden, in turn, “in principle, agreed with this point of view,” said the aide to the Russian president, Yuri Ushakov.