SULAIMANI (ESTA) — U.S. President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will speak by phone on Thursday, the White House said on Wednesday.
Biden and Putin will discuss a range of topics, including upcoming security talks between the countries and a tense situation in Europe, spokesperson of the White House National Security Council Emily Horne said in a statement.
The call will take place at 3:30 p.m. (2030 GMT), she added.
Horne said Biden had spoken with leaders across Europe about the situation on the Ukraine border, while his administration officials were in touch with NATO, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Russia’s deployment of troops near Ukraine has raised fears in the West that Moscow, which seized Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and has since backed separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine, may be poised for a new attack.
Russia has denied plans for an assault but says it could take unspecified military action if its security demands are not met.
Moscow, worried by what it says is the West’s re-arming of Ukraine, has said it wants legally-binding guarantees NATO will not expand further eastwards, and that certain offensive weapons will not be deployed to Ukraine or other neighboring countries.
The U.S. administration has promised economic sanctions if Russia attacks Ukraine. It says it cannot promise a sovereign state such as Ukraine would never join NATO.
The U.S. and Russian officials would hold security talks on January 10 to discuss concerns about their respective military activity and confront rising tensions over Ukraine, Reuters reported.
A spokesperson for the Biden administration said on Monday that Russia and NATO were also likely to hold talks on January 12, according to Reuters.
Another broader meeting including Moscow, Washington and other European countries was set for January 13, Reuters cited the spokesperson as saying.
