Tensions Subside, President Biden Says US Has No Plans To Deploy Military In Ukraine

JAKARTA - United States President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he had no plans to deploy American troops in Ukraine to prevent a potential Russian invasion, as tensions between Moscow and Washington eased after his virtual meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Putin said Moscow would send the idea to Washington within a week, to follow up on its talks with President Biden on Tuesday about the Ukraine crisis.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, President Biden said he hoped there would be an announcement on Friday of a high-level meeting with Russia and a key NATO ally to discuss Moscow's concerns about NATO in writing and possibly lower temperatures along the eastern front."

The United States has voiced growing unease about Russia's military build-up near Ukraine, a former Soviet Union territory that has been leaning towards the West since 2014. Moscow denies aiming to attack Ukraine and has instead warned of NATO's eastward expansion.

President Biden said the United States had a moral and legal obligation to defend NATO allies if they were attacked, but that obligation did not extend to Ukraine.

"That's not on the table," President Biden said when asked if US troops would be used to stop Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"That will depend on what other NATO countries want to do. But, the idea of the United States going to unilaterally use force to confront Russia invading Ukraine, is not on the cards right now," he explained.

He further explained, in talks with President White, he also conveyed about the economic consequences as before, if Russia invaded Ukraine, and he was sure that President Putin got his message.

President Biden warned President Putin on Tuesday that the West would impose "strong economic and other measures" against Moscow if it invaded, while President Putin demanded guarantees NATO would not expand eastward.

Neither side spoke of a breakthrough after the two-hour video call, but agreed to continue talks about what the Kremlin called "this complex confrontational situation."

"We agreed that we will continue these discussions and we will do it substantively. We will exchange our ideas in the near future. Russia will put its ideas literally in the coming days, within a week we will present this to the US side for consideration." President Putin told reporters.

In his first public comments since the conversation, President Putin said it was 'provocative' to raise the question of whether Russia was planning to attack Ukraine, and again accused Kyiv and NATO of threatening Russia's security.

"We must not but worry about the prospect of Ukraine's possible entry into NATO, as this will inevitably be followed by the deployment of a military contingent, bases, and weapons that threaten us there," he said.

It would be "criminal inaction" on Russia's part not to respond, he said. "We work on the assumption that our concerns, at least this time, will be heard."

Meanwhile, Russia, Ukraine, and NATO have all stepped up military exercises as tensions have risen in the past month.

Russian military aircraft were deployed Wednesday to escort French Rafale and Mirage fighter jets flying over the Black Sea, RIA news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had submitted a protest note to the US Embassy over the "dangerous" flight of US and NATO military aircraft near the Russian border.