Kremlin exterior as Putin and Biden discuss Ukraine

Описание: (30 Dec 2021) Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin are speaking by phone on Thursday about the Russian troop buildup near Ukraine.
The new round of leader-to-leader talks come as the Kremlin has stepped up its calls for security guarantees and test fired hypersonic missiles to underscore its demands.
Putin requested the call, the second between the leaders this month, ahead of scheduled talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials set for Jan. 10 in Geneva.
Russia has made clear it wants a written commitment that Ukraine will never be allowed to join NATO and that the alliance's military equipment will not be positioned in former Soviet states, demands that the Biden administration has made clear are non-starters.
The White House indicated that Biden would reiterate to Putin that a diplomatic path remains open even as the Russians have moved an estimated 100,000 troops toward Ukraine and Kremlin officials have turned up the volume on its demands for new guarantees from the U.S. and NATO.
Those demands are to be discussed during the talks in Geneva, but it remains unclear what, if anything, Biden would be willing to offer Putin in exchange for defusing the crisis.
Draft security documents Moscow submitted demand that NATO deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.
The U.S. and its allies have refused to offer Russia the kind of guarantees on Ukraine that Putin wants, citing NATO’s principle that membership is open to any qualifying country.
They agreed, however, to hold talks with Russia to discuss its concerns.

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