President Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin of economic sanctions over Ukraine: Senior official

President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Thursday as tensions rise over a significant military buildup on the Ukrainian border.

The call began at 3:35 p.m. ET and lasted 50 minutes, the White House said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden urged Putin to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine and that his administration was prepared to “respond decisively” alongside allies and partners if Russia further invades Ukraine.

A senior administration official, who declined to be named in order to discuss details of the call, said that the tone of the conversation was “serious and substantive.”

“Both leaders acknowledged that there were likely to be areas where we could make meaningful progress as well as areas where agreements may be impossible,” the official said, adding that the upcoming Jan. 10 security talks will build upon Biden and Putin’s Thursday discussion.

Ahead of those talks, the senior administration official said that the United States and European allies will continue to watch developments in Ukraine.

“We’re going to continue to monitor very closely the movement and build-up of Russian forces on the Ukraine border and prepare ourselves for whatever decision ultimately is made by the Russian president,” the official said.

A Putin aide told reporters in Moscow that both leaders congratulated each other on the holidays and mutually wished success to the Russian and American people.

The aide described the conversation between Putin and Biden as “frank, informative and specific in nature.”

“Putin outlined in detail the basic principles laid down by Russia in the security proposals and emphasized that we will seek to ensure Russia’s security. In principle, the U.S. president agreed with this point of view,” explained Yury Ushakov, according to an NBC News translation.

“Biden clearly stated that the United States does not intend to deploy offensive strike weapons in Ukraine. And Putin noted that this is one of the key points for us,” Ushakov added.

The call, the second known discussion between the two leaders this month, was scheduled at Putin’s request. The Russian president has previously insisted that despite a massive deployment of thousands of troops along Ukraine’s border, Moscow is not preparing for an invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor.

But Putin has laid out conditions for nonaggression: He has promised that Russian troops will not attack Ukraine if Kyiv’s ongoing bid to join NATO is denied. Russia has described NATO’s eastward expansion as a “red line” that poses security threats to Moscow.

Since 2002, Ukraine has sought entry into the world’s most powerful military alliance, where the group’s Article 5 clause states that an attack on one member country is considered an attack on all of them.

During a prior call earlier this month, Biden did not accept Putin’s “red line” and instead warned that Washington and European allies were prepared to impose a web of economic and political countermeasures if Ukraine’s sovereign borders were breached.

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[mopthermopther]

Hunter is the new Ambassador to Ukraine 🇺🇦

[firstlast]

Biden: “We’ll send sanctions.”
Putin: “Mail them to my Kiev office.”

[fatjerrynadler]

Putin ( in Russian ), “ LET’S GO BRANDON !!”
Sleepy Joe ( in English ) “ that’s right…
Let’s go Brandon !!”

[ydvlljj]

"President Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin of economic sanctions over Ukraine" Putin could be heard laughing his ass off.

[SunRise-lrch]

Old dummy warns world leader then hides in basement.
Yeah...whatever

[DJ.Decibellz]

Biden : "C'mon man, leave Ukraine"

Putin: "Yes, it's Mykraine"

[ccarts]

No one cares what Brandon says. He is a joke and a laughingstock. If you actually voted for him you are the problem.

[wanderingquestions]

Putin should shut the gas off the the EU

[frankpeletz]

I am sure Putin in still shaking (from laughter ), after all, look what then VP Biden and his boss Obama did to Russia over Crimea.

[sadeaton]

What Joe really said to Putin was, "I have called to say I am here to chew bubble gum and kick a**, and I am all out of bubble gum." Putin responded with, "yawn."

[otmargreb]

So terrible that we are dealing with sanctions. We should never have been dealing with our enemies in the first place. It's our downfall!

[lukedavis]

More pipelines for Putin and 20% for the big guy.... 🤮🤑🤮💰💲💰

[thomasm]

Im sure Putin had a good laugh at that. If it is even true at all.

[sturdythorpe]

Putin was wearing his Let's Go Brandon tshirt during the call. Biden saw it and now he wants one.

[NPak-cwny]

What a tough way to end the year, I made a mistake voting for Joe Biden.

[vicpardo]

Waste of a call. Vladimir could care less.

[李-dc]

Russia is trying to help Ukraine from human rights and freedoms

[longdistance]

I am sure Putin is real scared of joey

[seoulman]

Funny how no one talks about the millions of gallons of diesel Russia gave us about a month ago when our supply chain was failing us. These people want to trade with us.

[kevinhawley]

"Warns, " is obviously too strong when talking about Joe Biden. "Teases, " is much more appropriate."