The Russian soldiers posed no danger to anyone, and the Kremlin suffocated

In an interview with the television program Rossiya 1 on Sunday, Peskov said Putin had told Pitani that Russian soldiers posed no danger to anyone. Putin also made it clear to the head of the White House that he would like to meet him in person. But after the talks, Pesco said, there was no reason for Putin to be optimistic because there were fundamental differences between Russia and the United States over what could still be unresolved boundaries.

In a video call, Biden warned the Russians. “I have made it clear to President Putin … if he goes to Ukraine, the economic consequences will be catastrophic for him,” Biden told reporters Saturday.

However he acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat Obama’s plan to send US ground troops to Ukraine in the event of a Russian invasion.

The G7 foreign ministers sent a similar message to Moscow on Saturday. They, too, warned of the dire consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and called on Moscow to return to the negotiating table.

In contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin compares the developments in eastern Ukraine to genocide. “You and I know what’s happening in Donbass. It certainly sounds like genocide,” the Kremlin leader told a meeting of the Presidential Human Rights Council on Thursday.

“I have to say that russophobia is the first step towards genocide,” the president was quoted as saying by TASS.

Ukraine accuses Russia of mobilizing tens of thousands of troops along its borders in preparation for a large-scale military offensive. Moscow has no such plans.