‘We are at a moment of crisis’: White House says Putin asked for call with Biden ahead of talks

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President Joe Biden is set to speak by phone with Russian president Vladimir Putin on Thursday, days before US and Russian officials meet for talks in hopes of lowering tensions that have continued to rise during successive build-ups of Russian troops along the Ukraine-Russia border.

According to a senior White House official who briefed reporters Wednesday afternoon, the call between the two leaders is being arranged at the request of Mr Putin and his representatives.

While the official said Mr Biden “has always believed there is no substitute for direct leader-to-leader dialogue and engagement” and welcomes the opportunity to speak with his counterpart, they offered no information on why Mr Putin felt the need to speak with Mr Biden at this time.

“I cannot speak to why the Russian side has requested this call … I think both leaders believe that there is genuine value in direct leader to leader engagement, that we are at a moment of crisis and have been for some weeks now given the Russian build-up and it will take a high level of engagement to address this and to try to find a path of de-escalation,” the official said.

US and Russian officials are set to begin talks on nuclear arms control and the status of Ukraine in Geneva on 10 January. A US delegation will be led by State Department officials, and will include representatives of the Defence Department and other “relevant departments and agencies of the US government,” including those from the White House’s National Security Council.

Last week, Mr Putin rattled off a list of demands for deescalating the situation along the Ukrainian border during his annual televised news conference. The list largely echoed documents the Kremlin released earlier this month which lay out a number of things sought by Moscow in upcoming talks, including a rollback of Nato deployments in central and eastern Europe and a rescinding of a 2008 promise that Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia would be allowed to become signatories to the North Atlantic Treaty. The documents also called for a prohibition on deployment of US and Russian warships to areas from which they could strike each other’s territories.

The official said the US is “prepared to discuss” Russia’s demands, but the US and its’ allies and partners “will put our concerns on the table and expect Russia to be prepared to discuss them as well”.

“This dialogue should and – we expect – will proceed on the basis of reciprocity,” the official said.

The official added that Mr Biden will “make clear” that the US is “prepared for diplomacy and for a diplomatic path forward” but is “also prepared to respond if Russia advances with a further invasion of Ukraine”.

“We have coordinated with our allies to impose severe sanctions on the Russian economy and financial system far beyond what was implemented in 2014. We have made plans to reinforce NATO's force posture and allied states in the event of a further invasion, which would destabilise the security situation in Europe and demand adjustments to NATO forces and capabilities, especially on the eastern flank. and we are prepared to provide Ukraine with further assistance to defend its territory and respond to a potential Russian occupation should a further invasion proceed in the coming weeks,” the official said.

He added that Mr Biden will “emphasise” that the US is “united with our allies in our willingness to engage in principled diplomacy” and “prepared to discuss the security and strategic matters that have now been the subject of both private and public debate and discussion over the course of the past days and weeks”, with the aim of finding a “diplomatic path” to de-escalation if Mr Putin “is interested in taking it”.

Because the US is committed to engaging in negotiations around Ukraine based on the principle of “nothing about them without them”, the official said most of the Russo-American dialogue concerning Ukraine will take place at the level of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe permanent council meeting that is set to take place at the same time as the US-Russia arms talks.

“Issues related to Ukraine naturally fit well in the OSCE context because of course, Ukraine is a member of the OSCE and will be present at the table there,” the official said, while adding that arms control negotiations will fall under the US-Russia Strategic Stability Dialogue, with talks over Nato’s future being handled at the level of the Nato-Russia Council.

The official said Mr Biden will stress that “real progress” in any of the talks towards “security and stability in Europe” will require Mr Putin to deescalate tensions along the Russia-Ukraine border.

“It remains a continuing source of great concern, what the Russians have been putting in place in and around that border area, and we would like to see obviously, a reduction in that build up and the return of forces to their regular training areas or their long-term deployment areas,” they said.

“That's something that we will continue to communicate to the Russian side but our goal is to engage the diplomacy, begin the discussions and then see if we can create the kind of government that allows for both deescalation and progress at the negotiating table.”