WASHINGTON (AP)
President Joe Biden is ready to warn Vladimir Putin during a video call Tuesday that Russia will face economy jarring sanctions if it invades neighboring Ukraine as Biden seeks a diplomatic solution to deal with the tens of thousands of Russian troops massed near the Ukraine border.
Biden aims to make clear that his administration stands ready to take actions against the Kremlin that would exact (a very real cost) on the Russian economy, according to White House officials. Putin, for his part, is expected to demand guarantees from Biden that the NATO military alliance will never expand to include Ukraine, which has long sought membership. Thats a nonstarter for the Americans and their NATO allies.
Hard to see what anyone is going to concede on there. NATO expanded to include many E. European nations in the past 25 years, and Ukraine would be a natural part of that trend.
And Putin is not going to stoop drooling over what Ukraine has - location, mineral resources, natural gas, enormous grain production, etc.
Putin will always say, just as he did with Crimea, that most people want to be part of Russia anyway. There is also the chance that Putin could fight for Ukraine and have it turn into another Afghan debacle, where the invasion turns into a giant budget-buster for Russia. If any of this was really up to Russian citizens (i.e. on an Earth 2), then I think they would be saying, hell no, not another insane land war.
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