The statement was published by on the website of The Atlantic Council on December 30, the day of Biden’s telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The document was signed by 24 people, among them:
- former Assistant Secretary of State of the United States, leading expert of the Atlantic Council Daniel Fried;
- former US Ambassador to Russia, former NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow;
- Michael McFaul, former US ambassador to Russia, professor at Stanford University;
- former US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst;
- ex-US ambassador to Ukraine, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington, Stephen Pifer;
- bformer US Department of State Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volcker;
- bFormer Commander of the United States Army in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.
The authors of the statement draw attention to the fact that the Russian Federation has violated a number of its obligations under international agreements, including the Budapest Memorandum. They suggest that Moscow is preparing the ground for an armed attack on Ukraine, despite the willingness of the United States and NATO to sit down at the negotiating table.
“We believe the United States should, in close cooperation with its NATO allies and Ukraine, take immediate steps to influence the Kremlin’s calculations of economic benefits before the Russian leadership decides to further military escalation,” the statement said.
It notes that the Biden administration must agree with European partners on a response to a possible attack on Ukraine, “regardless of the degree or form of Russian escalation.”
“Such a response should include a package of serious and painful sanctions that will be immediately applied in the event of a Russian attack on Ukraine. Ideally, the plan for these sanctions should be communicated to Moscow now so that the Kremlin has a clear idea of the scale of the economic blow that will be inflicted on it. In particular, Washington should consult with Berlin and secure German agreement that it will not allow the commissioning of Nord Stream 2 in the event of a Russian attack, making it clear that otherwise the administration will not again lift sanctions against this. gas pipeline “, – write the authors of the appeal to Biden.
They believe that the main thing that the West can do for Ukraine now is to increase the deterrent potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by speeding up the provision of military assistance.
“For the Kremlin, a large-scale invasion of Ukraine makes sense only if Russian troops are able to capture and hold Ukrainian territory without incurring significant and permanent losses. Western countries must act now to provide the armed forces and territorial defense units of Ukraine with additional capabilities capable of inflicting such losses, “the document emphasizes.
Straightaway after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia launched an armed aggression in eastern Ukraine. The fighting is between the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the one hand and the Russian army and Russian-backed militants who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on the other. Officially, the Russian Federation does not recognize its invasion of Ukraine, despite the facts and evidence presented by Ukraine.
In the spring of 2021, Russia built up troops near the border with Ukraine and in the occupied Crimea. In late October, American media began reporting that Russia pulls up troops again to the border with Ukraine and is preparing an invasion of Ukraine.
In the Kremlin called the messages about the preparation of the invasion “stuffing”, said that “Russia is not going to attack anyone and is not hatching any aggressive plans,” and accused Kiev of preparing to aggression “against” LPR “and” DPR “. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine denied the disinformation of the Russian Federation about the alleged preparation for a military attack in Donbass. The United States and NATO have repeatedly called on Russia to de-escalation of stress at the border.
On December 10, Russia demanded that the North Atlantic Alliance officially withdraw a promise Ukraine on its entry into NATO. Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg responded by saying that the right of every people to choose their own path remains fundamental to NATO.
December 17 Russian Foreign Ministry circulated Russian draft treaty handed over to Washington with the United States and agreements with NATO on so-called security guarantees. In particular, they say that the United States must commit to exclude further NATO expansion “eastward”, refuse to admit the states that were formerly part of the USSR into the Alliance.
Putin said on December 21 that the security requirements of the Russian Federation – not an ultimatumbut the West must answer them. On December 23, he said that in the 1990s, Western countries had assured Moscow that they would not expand NATO eastward, but “blatantly deceived.” NATO never made promises not expand, Stoltenberg retorted to Putin.
On December 29, the US State Department reported that in January they will hold talks with Moscow on the requirements for “security guarantees”: 10 january a dialogue between the United States and the Russian Federation on strategic stability will take place; on January 12, Russia and NATO are planning to hold a meeting at the level of the Russia-NATO Council, and a meeting of representatives of the Russian Federation and the OSCE is scheduled for January 13.
On December 30, Biden and Putin had their second conversation in a month. During a conversation that lasted about 50 minutes, the head of the White House warned Putin that the United States, its allies and partners will give decisive response in the event of an invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine.
According to Biden, he got the impression that Putin agreed with the fact that in January there will be three rounds of negotiations on Russia’s demands and “did not disagree with anything.” “I made it clear to President Putin that if he takes any more steps and invades Ukraine, we will impose tough sanctions. We will increase our presence in Europe with our NATO allies and he will have to pay a high price,” Biden said.
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