Biden’s approach, do not trust it, but verify it, reflects deep American skepticism about the motives of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the midst of his monthly invasion of Ukraine. While the US has observed the movement of Russian forces away from Kyiv, there is doubt that the Russian attack on Ukraine will end soon.
Some Western officials have called Russia’s move a mere exercise in the midst of a stalled campaign in Ukraine. US officials also said that Russia could always be overthrown if the fighting conditions allow it.
Similarly, US officials were cautious about optimism about the ongoing negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, both of which suggested on Tuesday that progress had been made. Instead, Biden focused on ensuring that the harsh sanctions regime he has established with European allies remains in place as hostilities continue.
At the meeting in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian groups began to outline a settlement, including talks on Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and Donbass, the eastern region that Russia claims is independent. Ukraine’s neutral status and international security guarantees are also under discussion, as is a possible meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
US officials have questioned Putin’s seriousness in negotiating an end to the violence since the beginning of the crisis. Some have also made it clear that they are unsure of Zelensky’s final game in the talks and are wary of any concessions he may make.
Speaking in the East Room with the visiting Prime Minister of Singapore, Biden said he had discussed the emerging peace talks with European leaders in a 53-minute telephone conversation earlier in the day. He said there was a “consensus” among leaders on “let’s see what they have to offer. We will find out what they do. “
“In the meantime, we will continue to maintain strong sanctions. We will continue to provide the Ukrainian military with the ability to defend itself and we will continue to monitor closely what is happening,” Biden added.
Biden’s aides reiterated their feelings, saying that while there was evidence of troop movements, no new strategy emerged.
“We have no reason to believe that they have adapted, that they have adapted this strategy,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said in a daily briefing. “Obviously, we continue to do what we can to impose costs on this decision.”
Speaking on a diplomatic visit to Morocco, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken warned that the troop withdrawal could be tantamount to “a means by which Russia once again tries to divert and deceive people into believing that it is not doing what he does “.
“If they somehow believe that an attempt to subjugate ‘only’ – in quotation marks – the eastern part of Ukraine and the southern part of Ukraine can succeed, then once again they are deeply fooling themselves,” Blinken said. in common news. conference with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita.
And the Pentagon has warned that while “small” Russian forces have been withdrawn from Kyiv “for the last day or so”, Russia could still inflict “massive barbarism” on the city.
“We believe that this is a repositioning, not a real withdrawal, and that we should all be prepared to witness a major offensive against other parts of Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told AFP. “No one should be fooling ourselves with the Kremlin’s latest claim that it will suddenly just reduce military strikes near Kyiv or any reports that it will withdraw all its forces.”
Kirby said the number of Russian forces moving away from the Ukrainian capital “does not approach the majority of those who have gathered against Kiev” and that Russia continues to launch airstrikes against the city “even today”.
He added: “It does not mean that the threat to Kyiv is over.”
For its part, Moscow hastened to clarify that its announced plans for de-escalation near Kyiv did not amount to a ceasefire. Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky told Russia’s state-run RT television that the first step Russia agreed to in talks with Ukraine was “a gradual military escalation in two main directions, Kyiv and Chernihiv.” “People in Kyiv have to make decisions, so we do not want to put this city in extra danger.”
Biden’s phone call with European allies came just days after he returned to Washington from a last-minute trip to Belgium and Poland to bolster a US commitment to regional security. He spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Olaf Soltz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
In particular, Macron acted as an interlocutor between Putin and the West, and the two men spoke on Tuesday after a group conversation with Biden. The French president had warned against escalating the crisis after Biden told Warsaw that Putin “could not stay in power”.
The White House said the remark – which Biden sought to explain Monday as an emotional response to a meeting with Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw – did not follow his phone call Tuesday morning.
