Biden in call to press Putin to de-escalate Ukraine crisis
CTV
Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin are set to discuss the Russian troop buildup near Ukraine on Thursday during their second call in recent weeks amid little progress toward ending the smoldering crisis.
Putin requested the call, the second between the leaders this month, ahead of scheduled talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials set for Jan. 10 in Geneva.
Russia has made clear it wants a written commitment that Ukraine will never be allowed to join NATO and that the alliance's military equipment will not be positioned in former Soviet states, demands that the Biden administration has made clear are non-starters.
The White House indicated that Biden would reiterate to Putin that a diplomatic path remains open even as the Russians have moved an estimated 100,000 troops toward Ukraine and Kremlin officials have turned up the volume on its demands for new guarantees from the U.S. and NATO.
Those demands are to be discussed during the talks in Geneva, but it remains unclear what, if anything, Biden would be willing to offer Putin in exchange for defusing the crisis.
