White House press secretary Jennifer Psaki said Saturday that Biden will address US concerns about Russian military activities on Ukraine’s borders.
“The president will reaffirm the United States’ support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she added, stressing that Moscow had requested the call.
Putin will make the call with his own concerns, as he intends to announce Russia’s opposition to any move for Ukraine to join NATO.
“The two presidents will decide how long their talks will last,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The last public call between the two leaders was last July, when Biden pressed Putin to rein in the Moscow-based criminal hacking gangs that have launched attacks on the United States.
Biden said his country would take any necessary steps to protect critical infrastructure from such attacks.
Ransomware or ransomware attacks have continued, although none may have been as worrisome as the attack last May, which targeted a major fuel pipeline and left gas shortages in parts of the United States for days.
Russia insists more than ever that the United States ensure that Ukraine does not join NATO.
But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that Russia had no say in plans for any other countries to join the alliance.
US diplomats and former NATO officials said Biden would not agree to any such Russian request.
US intelligence officials said Russia has massed about 70,000 troops near its border with Ukraine and began planning for a possible invasion early next year, according to a Biden administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss that conclusion publicly.
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