U.S PRES BIDEN SPOKE WITH NEW GERMAN CHANCELLOR OLAF SCHOLZ & PRES ZELENSKYY

USPA NEWS - President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke later on, today with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany to congratulate him on his appointment and the formation of a ruling coalition.  President Biden reaffirmed his support for robust U.S.-German relations and desire to further strengthen transatlantic cooperation in the coming years.  The leaders discussed their work together on the full range of global challenges, including continued efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic, counter the threat of climate change, and address Russia’s escalation of forces surrounding Ukraine. Indeed, due to the "tensions between Russia and Ukraine", U.S President Joe Biden spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last Tuesday via videoconference, amid the specter of a serious diplomatic crisis looms in the Ukrainian case. Three days ago, on December 3, President Biden held a call with President Zelenskyy and « reaffirmed our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also called leaders of the B9 to brief them on his call with President Putin and underscore our commitment to Transatlantic security. »

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke later on, today with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany to congratulate him on his appointment and the formation of a ruling coalition.  President Biden reaffirmed his support for robust U.S.-German relations and desire to further strengthen transatlantic cooperation in the coming years.  The leaders discussed their work together on the full range of global challenges, including continued efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic, counter the threat of climate change, and address Russia’s escalation of forces surrounding Ukraine. Indeed, due to the "tensions between Russia and Ukraine", U.S President Joe Biden spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last Tuesday via videoconference, amid the specter of a serious diplomatic crisis looms in the Ukrainian case. Three days ago, on December 3, President Biden held a call with President Zelenskyy and « reaffirmed our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also called leaders of the B9 to brief them on his call with President Putin and underscore our commitment to Transatlantic security. » At the same time, the G7  Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the High Representative of the European Union, who met in Liverpool, today, issued a joint statement as regard of Ukraine-Russia tensions and expressed their « unity in their condemnation of Russia's military build-up and aggressive rhetoric towards Ukraine. » Source: White House, U.S state of Department

BACKGROUND PRESS CALL BY A SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ON PRESIDENT BIDEN’S CALLS WITH PRESIDENT CALLS WITH ZELENSKYY OF UKRAINE LEADERS ------------------------------------------------------- On December 3, U.S President Biden held a call with President Zelenskyy and reaffirmed our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also called leaders of the B9 (The Bucharest Nine, the U.S Group of Flank Eastern Allies) to brief them on his call with President Putin and underscore our commitment to Transatlantic security. It was important that the President emphasized by calling personally after the first U.S Secretary Blinken’s call. The President Biden’s call with Ukrainian counterpart, was warm and lasted around 90 minutes. The main purpose of the call was an opportunity for President Biden to give President Zelenskyy a readout of his phone conversation with President Putin. «  President Biden made very clear a continued U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.  The President shared a readout of his conversation with President Putin — including telling Zelenskyy, as he had told Putin, that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the U.S. and our European allies would respond with strong economic measures, provide additional defensive materiel to Ukraine, and fortify our NATO Allies on the eastern flank with additional capabilities. He also explained that he had « told President Putin that there is another option in terms of de-escalation and diplomacy.  So, as part of that, the President underscored the United States’ continued support for the Normandy Format and ongoing efforts to implement the Minsk Agreements, including U.S. support for that overall process, which, of course, is led by our French and German allies. » Joe Biden « made very clear that one nation can’t force another nation to change its border, one nation cannot tell another to change its politics, and nations can’t tell others who they can work with. » Senior official said.

The senior administration official held few remarks at the top, over the two call made by the president, amid the « larger diplomatic outreach that we have been doing this week, the senior official said. « Similarly to what the President did this summer before he met with Putin in Geneva, there was a clear effort made to engage with our allies and partners on key security issues. » he added. The official reminded that U.S Secretary Antony Blinken last week, « was in Riga, where he participated in the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting, including conversations with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, as well as our NATO Allies. » The top diplomacy has also been engaged active with the European Union in particular with Charles Michel, president of the European Council. It is important to mention that before hand « On Monday, before the President Biden spoke with President Putin, he had a conversation with his Quint partners.  Everybody will be tracking that immediately after the call with President Putin, President Biden again followed up with his Quint partners to give them a readout of the call. » President Biden « underscored those points that he made to Putin and made very clear to President Zelenskyy that that was a key message of his call with him. » according to Senior official. He also reminded that « Turning to the call that the President had with the B9: He engaged with this grouping earlier in the summer in advance of his trip to Geneva, where he participated in a summit with those leaders.  It was a very positive exchange.  I think the eastern flank allies were very appreciative of the outreach and found the President’s message quite reassuring and really underscored the unity of resolve that that we have within the alliance. »

RUSSIAN THREATS ARE BIGGER THAN UKRAINE AND PRES BIDEN REAFFIRMED THE VERY STRONG SUPPORT OF NATO----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As far as NATO is concerned, President Biden was very clear to express his awareness of the broader concerns that are had by the eastern flank.  So, in addition to what we have been seeing in terms of the worrying buildup of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border, the President also made clear that these threats are bigger than Ukraine and reaffirmed his very strong support to transatlantic security and reiterated — as he frequently does — the sacred commitment, as he describes it, of the United States to Article 5, to transatlantic security, to NATO, and especially to our eastern flank allies. And, the President made very clear that there was this other path separate from the military path — similar to what he said to Zelenskyy — that there was also the path of de-escalation and diplomacy.  And the President made very clear that this path was going to be pursued in full consultation with our allies and partners. Finally, the President made clear his support for continued consultations and conversations at NATO about ongoing efforts to refine our defense and deterrence posture there. The United States’ view was, which was the readiness to impose very significant economic consequences if Russia took steps to further invade Ukraine. When it comes to the Format of the U.S diplomacy in order to find a peaceful solution, there are existing formats, including the NATO-Russia Council, where there is a longstanding invitation to the Russians to participate in talks.  That invitation very much remains open.” The Senior Administration said, when one know that “Format Normandie”, is struggling in at least deescalating the Russian-Ukraine’s tension, in line with the Accord of Minsk. From the American side what is certain is that Ukraine is on the agenda, then Ukraine is at the table and the U.S President Joe Biden, was bold enough to establish a direct dialogue with both Presidents Vladimir Putin and Vlodomyr Zelenskyy, regardless of the Format Normandie because this quadrilateral diplomacy is in slow motion….