Joe Biden has made a significant diplomatic concession to Moscow designed to prevent an invasion of Ukraine by signaling he wants to convene meetings between Nato allies and Russia to discuss Vladimir Putin’s grievances with the transatlantic security pact.
Speaking on Wednesday, a day after he held a bilateral call with Russia’s leader, the US president said he hoped to announce by Friday high-level talks “to discuss the future of Russia’s concerns relative to Nato writ large”.
The talks would explore “whether or not we can work out any accommodation as it relates to bringing down the temperature along the eastern front”, Biden added.
The US president said he hoped the participants would include not just Washington and Moscow but also “at least four of our major Nato allies” , although he declined to name the specific countries.
Moscow wants Nato to commit to halting any eastward expansion and to refrain from deploying troops and equipment that could be used to attack Russia from neighboring countries.
But Biden’s reference to finding a potential “accommodation” with Moscow in eastern Europe will startle many eastern Nato members and US allies, who fear Putin is using the threat of military force to win concessions on the US security presence in Europe.
Putin on Wednesday reiterated his fear that Ukraine will join Nato, which he said would “undoubtedly be followed by the placement of relevant military contingents, bases, and weapons threatening us”.
“We are working on the assumption that our concerns will be heard at least this time,” he added.
Though Putin has periodically demanded similar talks for more than a decade,
Moscow’s “red lines” have come to the fore in the last month, after the US warned allies Russia was massing up to 175,000 troops at its borders in preparation for a possible invasion of Ukraine, early next year.