President Joe Biden dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “red line” Ukraine remarks on Friday as he left the White House for the weekend.
“I won’t accept anybody’s red line,” Biden replied when asked about comments Putin made Tuesday in Moscow about the Ukraine situation.
Putin had described his concerns that “some kind of strike systems” from NATO could be deployed in Ukraine, and warned if that were to happen, it would trigger his “red lines.”
“What are we to do in such a scenario?” he said. “We will have to then create something similar in relation to those who threaten us in that way. And we can do that now.”
“Creating such threats would be red lines for us,” Putin said, referring to Ukraine. “But I hope it doesn’t come to that. I hope that a sense of common sense, responsibility for both our countries and the world community will prevail.”
U.S. Intelligence officials revealed Russia is planning a possible military offensive in Ukraine, with plans to deploy 175,000 troops on the Ukraine/Russia border.
Earlier Friday, Biden said he was in lengthy talks with European allies to prevent Putin from acting in the region, and was crafting “the most comprehensive and meaningful set of initiatives to make it very, very difficult for Mr. Putin to go ahead and do what people are worried he may do.”
On Friday evening, Biden said he would have a long talk with Putin about Ukraine’s future.
“We’ve been aware of Russia’s actions for a long time and my expectation is we’re gonna have a long discussion with Putin,” Biden said.
Biden will spend his weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat.