BIDEN: Russia will face disaster if it "invades" Ukraine, and the United States and allies are ready

The Paper's reporter Nan Boyi

On January 19, local time, US President Joe Biden warned that if Russia "invades" Ukraine, then Russia will "face a disaster".

According to the Russian Satellite News Agency reported on January 20, Biden said that once Russia "invades" Ukraine, the United States and its allies will make Russia pay a high price, such as serious economic losses, etc. "If Russia occupies Ukraine, then they will have to pay a huge price for it, such as Russian banks will not be able to handle dollar business." This is not an easy task for Russia. Biden stressed that if Russia does invade Ukraine and the United States and its allies are ready, Russia will face "a catastrophe." Biden revealed that Russia must be responsible for the "invasion" of Ukraine, and the exact "punishment" of the United States and its allies against Russia will depend on the scale of the "invasion".

Biden also said: "I think he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] will 'invade' Ukraine, but maybe not start an all-out war." Biden stressed that Putin "does not want to start an all-out war" because once a war starts, Russia will face "serious economic consequences", including cutting off the country's energy revenues and facing economic sanctions. Biden said he was willing to hold talks with Putin, and he believed it was possible to defuse the Ukraine crisis through talks.

On January 12, local time, the US Democratic senator submitted a draft of sanctions against Russia in the case of an escalation of the situation in Ukraine, and if Russia takes "hostile actions" against Ukraine, the United States will impose comprehensive sanctions on the Russian military and senior Russian government officials, including Putin. On the 16th, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov responded that the US proposal to impose a new round of sanctions on Russia may trigger the severance of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Peskov said that sanctions are not in the interests of Russia and the United States, "[The US side] can you give an example of when sanctions can solve the problem?" ”

Previously, Russia has repeatedly denied that there is a plan to "invade" Ukraine, saying that Russia has not threatened anyone and has no intention of attacking anyone, and that Russia is only responding to NATO's eastward expansion and some provocative acts in Ukraine. In December 2021, Russia submitted a draft treaty to the United States and NATO on Russian security guarantees. According to the draft, the Russian side put forward the demands of NATO to stop eastward expansion and Ukraine not to join NATO. In January, Russia held three separate talks with the United States, NATO and the OSCE on Ukraine, none of which yielded substantive results.

Editor-in-Charge: Zhu Runyu Photo Editor: Jin Jie

Proofreader: Shi Gong