President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov briefed the press on the phone call between Presidents Putin and Joe Biden which took place today, lasting one hour. Ushakov said the talks were staged on Washington’s request: “The conversation came amid an atmosphere of unprecedented hysteria by U.S. officials over Russia’s supposedly imminent ‘invasion’ of Ukraine.” He said “conditions are being created for possible provocative actions by the Ukrainian armed forces.” Putin, he said, spoke about “destructive” policies pursued by the Ukrainian authorities to “sabotage” the Minsk agreements, and said that the Western countries do not put enough “pressure” on Kiev to fulfill the deal, Ushakov noted.
“Joe Biden mentioned possible anti-Russian sanctions, which was expected given the tense situation around Ukraine. At the same time, this issue was not at the center of the fairly long conversation with the Russian leader,” he said, adding that the two leaders have agreed to continue discussions in the future.
The White House readout was what would be expected – it was all Biden lecturing Putin on his bad behavior and what horrible things would happen if he were naughty.
