拜登与普京就乌克兰局势通话
近期，俄乌关系加速恶化，双方在两国边境地区部署了大量军事人员和武器装备。美国、乌克兰和北约声称俄罗斯在靠近乌东部边境地区集结重兵，有“入侵”之势。俄方予以否认，强调北约活动威胁俄边境安全，俄方有权在境内调动部队以保卫领土。
俄罗斯总统普京12日与美国总统拜登通电话，双方围绕乌克兰局势问题交换了意见。
俄总统助理乌沙科夫在俄美领导人通话结束后举行的新闻发布会上表示，此次谈话整体均衡且务实。通话由美方提议，是在美国官员前所未有地渲染俄罗斯必然入侵乌克兰的歇斯底里气氛下举行的，“这种歇斯底里已经达到顶峰”。
乌沙科夫表示，拜登在通话中提到，如果乌克兰局势恶化，美国则可能对俄罗斯实施严厉制裁。
当地时间2月11日，美国国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文声称，美方情报显示，俄罗斯与乌克兰边境紧张局势加剧，俄罗斯可能在2月20日之前“入侵”乌克兰。
对此，乌克兰总统泽连斯基12日回应称，目前有太多所谓俄罗斯可能“入侵”乌克兰的说法，希望传播这类消息的人给出确凿证据↓↓↓
The Kremlin has said a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday took place against a backdrop of "hysteria" in the West about "absurd" claims of a looming Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In a briefing with reporters, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described the call as business-like, and said Biden had asked for the call to take place on Saturday as a result of the rising hysteria.
"Biden predictably mentioned possible tough anti-Russian sanctions in the context of the tense situation around Ukraine, but that was not the focus of his rather lengthy conversation with the Russian leader," Ushakov said.
Biden and Putin spoke by phone amid escalated tensions along the Ukrainian-Russian borders. Russia has repeatedly denied any plan to attack Ukraine and accused the West of fueling tensions.
Ushakov said Biden laid out a number of considerations to address the array of security demands that Russia made of the West late last year, including a veto on Ukraine ever joining NATO.
"I will immediately note that the Russian president reacted in the spirit that the Russian side would carefully analyze the considerations expressed by Biden and would undoubtedly take them into account," the Kremlin official said.
"But unfortunately, and this was said, these considerations do not touch upon the central, key elements of Russian initiatives," he added.
Ushakov said Biden's ideas largely repeated the ideas set out in the U.S. and NATO counter-proposals to Russia's security demands that were handed over on January 26.
He said Russia had practically finished drawing up its response to those counterproposals and would announce them soon.
Putin told Biden he thought the West was not putting enough pressure on Ukraine to implement the Minsk peace agreements on the conflict in east Ukraine, Ushakov said.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Thurmont, Maryland, U.S., February 12, 2022. /Reuters
The U.S. president warned that Russia will face "swift and severe costs" if its troops carry out an "invasion."
"If Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia," Biden told Putin, according to the White House.
While the United States was prepared to engage in diplomacy, "we are equally prepared for other scenarios," Biden said.
A senior U.S. official told reporters that the call was "professional and substantive" but produced "no fundamental change" in dynamics.
Putin also had a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday. The Russian leader slammed Western claims about an imminent invasion of Ukraine, calling the idea "provocative speculation" that could lead to a conflict in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that a Russian anti-submarine destroyer chased off a U.S. submarine near the Kuril Islands in the northern Pacific, forcing it to leave the country's territorial waters.
The ministry said it had summoned the U.S. defense attache in Moscow over the incident. The U.S. military denied having conducted military operations in Russian territorial waters.
Russia in December sent a draft agreement to NATO and a draft treaty to the U.S. both on security guarantees in Europe for the Western countries to consider.
Moscow has asked Washington to prevent further eastward expansion of NATO and deny NATO membership to Ukraine. Russia has also demanded that the U.S. and NATO not deploy offensive weapons in its neighboring countries.
In a joint statement issued by China and Russia earlier this month, the two countries voiced opposition to further expansion of NATO and urged the bloc to discard Cold-War ideology.