“I have no doubt that they are already calculating how to carry out these plans,” Putin said. US officials have said for months there ar...
“I have no doubt that they are already calculating how to carry out these plans,” Putin said.
US officials have said for months there are no such plans, and Mr Biden told a press conference in January that Ukraine was still years away from qualifying for the NATO membership. But he was unwilling to comply with Mr Putin’s demand that NATO stop accepting new members and that he provide a written and binding guarantee that Ukraine would never be part of the Western alliance .
Mr. Biden’s options to counter any military intervention in Ukraine in the coming days are limited. He repeatedly said he would not allow US forces to fight in Ukraine. But there is no guarantee that the conflict will not spill over from Ukraine’s borders.
Europe was surround the refugees fleeing a modern, albeit corrupt, democracy whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was in Munich on Saturday to make his case that NATO must open its doors to his country – and therefore defend it. Mr. Biden’s own national security officials have warned U.S. utilities, banks and other businesses to harden their networks against what they fear is a wave of Russian-originated cyberattacks and ransomware, which they have publicly warned could trigger in response to the sanctions. .
While Mr. Biden’s actions on Monday night were held back, his administration denounced the Russian move as a violation of the rules governing the world order.
In a statement, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, called Mr Putin’s decision a “flagrant violation of Russia’s international commitments”.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called the action a violation of his organization’s charter. The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting late Monday night in which the United States and its allies denounced Moscow’s actions – but Russia holds a veto in that body, saying it could block any action.
In a joint statement, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel wrote that the European Union would “react with sanctions against those involved in this illegal act”, and that it “reiterates its unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
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