United States President Joe Biden is set to have a video call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday over growing tensions regarding Ukraine and Moscow's continued military aggression in the region.
Many see Russia's build-up of troops on the Ukrainian border as a sign of a potential invasion by Moscow. During the planned video call, Biden is expected to raise the American federal government's concerns over Russia's military movement on the Ukrainian border.
Biden and Putin
Additionally, the United States will reaffirm its support for the "sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Saturday. Psaki confirmed the video call after Mosco first revealed the plans.
On the other hand, Russian President Putin will be coming to the video call with concerns and intends to express his country's opposition to any move to admit Ukraine into the NATO military alliance. In a statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the two presidents will "decide themselves" how long their video call talk will last, the Associated Press reported.
The planned video call comes after Republican Sen. Joni Ernst urged President Biden on Sunday to be "very clear and very strong" with his Russian counterpart. In an interview on Sunday, the official said that she believed Biden needed to be firm with Putin in addressing concerns over Ukraine's border.
Ernst said that Biden should send Putin a clear message that the Russian president is no longer allowed to continue the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and to pledge support of Ukraine. The senator referenced the controversial new pipeline that Russia built to distribute natural gas from within its region to Germany.
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Ernst emphasized the need for the Democratic U.S. president to push back against what she called Russia's "very aggressive action." The comments came after reports of an increased Russian military presence at the Russia-Ukraine border that could result in a military attack by Moscow early next year, CNN reported.
Overriding President Biden
On Sunday, Ernst also said that there were enough senators, both Democratic and Republican, who could support the proposal to override President Biden and sanction Russia over the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The Iowa senator said that Biden should immediately reverse his decision to waive sanctions against Moscow.
Ernst said that while she could not speak for the House, she believed that there were Democrats and Republicans who did not want to allow Putin to continue with the pipeline. Additionally, many officials were opposed to Russia's aggression and potential invasion of Ukraine.
The former undersecretary of defense under President Bill Clinton, Michele Flournoy, on the other hand, cautioned Congress against overriding President Biden. She said that the act could undermine the economic sanctions that Biden's administration was already considering against Moscow.
"I think the combination of sanctions that are being considered would be even more powerful than the signal of blocking the pipeline. Remember what Putin is trying to do here, one of his objectives is to divide the United States and Europe. So if we're going to maintain transatlantic unity to implement various severe sanctions we've got to work with our European partners, and that includes Germany," Fox News reported.
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