US President Joe Biden revealed on Thursday that he has “no plans” to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he accused of carrying out a “premeditated” attack on Ukraine.
“It’s a large conflict already,” Biden said when asked if he was communicating with the Kremlin to keep the situation from “spiraling.” “The way we’re going to ensure it’s not going to spiral into a larger conflict is by providing all the forces needed in the Eastern European nations that are members of NATO.”
He added that NATO allies are “more united” than they have ever been, but that he has no plans on directly speaking to Putin. Previously announced sanctions from the US have targeted financial institutions and wealthy individuals and their families in Russia.
Biden said a previous threat he’d made, of personally sanctioning Putin over his Ukraine actions, “is on the table.”
“It’s not a bluff. It’s on the table,” he said, then declining to answer why personal sanctions on the Russian president weren’t included in the new round of measures.
Biden said in a “month or so,” he will reassess to see if the economic sanctions on Russia “are working.”
Despite warnings from Biden and others about Ukraine, Moscow announced on Thursday morning that the Russian military was moving into Ukraine to “demilitarize and denazify” the current regime in Kiev. The move came after Biden had put in place previous economic sanctions, following Putin recognizing the two breakaway territories, the Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic.