Biden makes diplomatic concessions to Russia with plan for NATO talks

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Joe Biden has made a major diplomatic concession to Moscow aimed at preventing an invasion of Ukraine by indicating that he wants meetings between NATO allies and Russia to discuss Vladimir Putin’s complaints about the Transatlantic Security Agreement.

Speaking on Wednesday, a day after he had a bilateral call with the Russian leader, the US president said he hoped to announce on Friday high-level talks “to discuss the future of Russia’s NATO concerns.”

Biden added that the talks would explore “whether or not we can work on any compromise in terms of lowering the temperature along the Eastern Front.”

The US president said he hoped participants would not only include Washington and Moscow, but also “at least four of our main NATO allies,” although he declined to name the specific countries.

Moscow wants NATO to commit to halting any eastern expansion and refrain from deploying troops and equipment that could be used to attack Russia from neighboring countries.

But Biden’s reference to a potential “compromise” with Moscow in Eastern Europe will surprise many eastern NATO members and US allies, who fear that Putin will use the threat of military force to win concessions over the US security presence in Europe.

On Wednesday, Putin reiterated his concerns about Ukraine’s entry into NATO, which he said would “undoubtedly be followed by the deployment of military units, bases and weapons that threaten us.”

“We are working on the assumption that our concerns will be heard at least this time,” he added.

Although Putin has periodically called for similar talks for more than a decade, Moscow’s “red lines” came to the fore last month, after the United States warned allies that Russia was massing up to 175,000 troops on its border in preparation for an invasion. Possible Ukraine early next year.

Putin said the talk of an invasion was “provocative” but did not explicitly rule out any military activity, saying Russia had “the right to ensure its security . . . in the medium and long term.”

A senior official from the eastern NATO country told the Financial Times that “under no circumstances should discussion of safeguards be allowed in the context of European security”.

Any talk of a settlement with Moscow “must be cut immediately at its roots,” they said, adding that this view is held by at least half a dozen EU members.

Putin said Russia would send a draft security agreement “in the next few days” to the US after agreeing to have “substantive” discussions with Biden during the call. Putin added that the two leaders agreed to “form a structure that deals with it in a detailed and comprehensive way.”

Although a senior Biden administration official earlier this week dismissed talk of red lines as unhelpful, the Biden administration is keen to pursue a diplomatic path to dissuade Putin from invading Ukraine.

Biden ruled out unilateral use of force to confront Russia on Wednesday, focusing instead on making clear what he said would be “serious consequences” if Putin escalates the conflict in Ukraine.

These include increasing military support for Ukraine, strengthening the US presence in NATO countries to reassure those on the eastern side, and putting together a punishing economic sanctions package.

The sanctions will target debt and banking and try to spoil the Nord Stream 2 pipeline connecting Russia and Germany, which has been built but not yet pumped, according to officials familiar with the plans.

“You made it very clear [in the call with Putin] If, in fact, he invaded Ukraine, there would be dire consequences. . . “The economic consequences are unprecedented,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday.

“I’m pretty sure he got the message.”

Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor in Washington

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