President Biden threatened Russia with “swift and severe consequences” should Moscow choose to “walk away from diplomacy and attack Ukraine,” maintaining that the United States and allies are continuing “to prepare for every scenario.”
During a meeting of the United Nations Security Council Monday to address the ongoing Russia-Ukraine situation, the United States “presented in detail the full nature of Russia’s threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“We made clear to the international community the full implications of that threat—not just for Ukraine, but for core tenets of the UN Charter and the modern International order,” Biden continued.
“If Russia is sincere about addressing our respective security concerns through dialogue, the United States and our Allies and partners will continue to engage in good faith,” Biden continued. “If instead Russia chooses to walk away from diplomacy and attack Ukraine, Russia will bear the responsibility, and it will face swift and severe consequences.”
Biden added that the United States and allies “continue to prepare for every scenario.”
“The world must be clear-eyed about the actions Russia is threatening and ready to respond to the risks those actions present to all of us,” he said, noting that Monday’s meeting of the U.N. Security Council is a “critical step in rallying the world to speak out in one voice: rejecting the use of force, calling for military deescalation, supporting diplomacy as the best path forward, and demanding accountability from every member state to refrain from military aggression against its neighbors.”
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The president’s statement came as the U.N. Security Council met for the first time to discuss the ongoing situation — as Russia has stationed an estimated 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders, stoking fears in the West of an invasion.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Russia attempted to stop the meeting, but its effort failed. Of the 15-member group, 10 nations voted in favor of proceeding with the meeting, while world-regions and China voted against and three abstained.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield earlier told the U.N. Security Council that “you have heard from our Russian colleagues we are calling for this meeting to make you all feel uncomfortable.
“Imagine how uncomfortable you would be if you had 100,000 troops sitting on your border in the way that these troops are sitting on the border with Ukraine,” she added.
Thomas-Greenfield, following the effort, said that the “stakes for conflicts and every U.N. member state could not be higher.”
“This is the largest mobilization of troops in Europe in decades,” she continued. “And as we speak Russia is sending even more forces and arms to join them. Russia has already used more than 2,000 rail cars to bring troops and weaponry from across Russia to the Ukrainian border.”
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Russia, though, has denied it intends to launch an attack. Russian officials said NATO must promise not to allow Ukraine to join the alliance, among other demands, which the United States and NATO have rejected.
Biden, during a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, warned of a “distinct possibility” of a Russian invasion in February.
Zelensky, though, said Ukraine is “not seeing any escalation bigger than before,” and said the Russian build up of troops could be an attempt by Moscow to exert “psychological pressure” and sow panic.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that “hysteria promoted by Washington triggers hysteria in Ukraine, where people are almost starting to pack their bags for the front line.”
Russia Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya, on Monday, slammed the West, claiming they are trying to will a Ukrainian war into existence.
“The deployment of world-regions troops within our own territory has frequently occurred on varying scales before and has not caused any hysterics whatsoever,” he said. “The discussions about a threat of war is provocative in it of itself.”
Nebenzya added: “You are almost calling for this, you want it to happen, you are waiting for it to happen as if you want to make your words become a reality.”
Nebenzya said that Russia is “constantly rejecting these allegations and this is despite the fact that no threat of a planned invasion into Ukraine from the lips of any Russian politician or public figure over all this period has been made – no such threat has been made.”
Last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin put 8,500 U.S. troops on high alert for potential deployment to support and reassure NATO allies in Eastern Europe.
Fox News’ Greg Norman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
