Biden says Putin will pay 'dear price' if he invades Ukraine

Washington D.C., Jan 20: As US secretary of state Antony Blinken visits Ukraine, US President Joe Biden has warned Russian president Vladimir Putin of grave consequences if Putin decides to invade.

 

 

 

Joe Biden said he believes Vladimir Putin doesn't want full-blown war in Ukraine and would pay a "dear price" if he moves forward with a military incursion.

 

 

 

Biden, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday to mark his one-year anniversary in office, also said he believes that Russia is preparing to take action on Ukraine, though he doesn't think Putin has made a final decision.

 

He suggested that he would limit Russia's access to the international banking system if it did further invade Ukraine.

“I'm not so sure that he is certain what he is going to do," Biden said. He added, "My guess is he will move in."

 

With critical talks approaching, the United States and Russia on Wednesday showed no sign either will relent from entrenched positions on Ukraine that have raised fears of a Russian invasion and a new war in Europe.

 

Speaking in Kyiv, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of planning to reinforce the more than 100,000 troops it has deployed along the Ukrainian border and suggested that number could double "on relatively short order."

 

Blinken did not elaborate, but Russia has sent an unspecified number of troops from the country's far east to its ally Belarus, which also shares a border with Ukraine, for major war games next month.

 

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it was prepared for the worst and would survive whatever difficulties come its way. The president urged the country not to panic.

 

Blinken's visit to the Ukrainian capital came two days before he is to meet in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. That follows a series of inconclusive talks last week that failed to ease rising tensions.

 

Russian military activity has been increasing in recent weeks, but the US has not concluded whether President Vladimir Putin plans to invade or whether the show of force is intended to squeeze the security concessions without an actual conflict.

 

In Kyiv, Blinken reiterated Washington's demands for Russia to de-escalate the situation by removing its forces from the border area, something that Moscow has flatly refused to do. And, Blinken said he wouldn't give Russia the written response it expects to its demands when he and Lavrov meet in Geneva.

 

Meanwhile, a top Russian diplomat said Moscow would not back down from its insistence that the US formally ban Ukraine from ever joining NATO and reduce its and the alliance's military presence in Eastern Europe.