REUTERS Denis Balibouse Pool
WASHINGTON, December 4, Reuters -- U.S. President Joe Biden will hold a video call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, both the Kremlin and a U.S. source familiar with the matter said Saturday.
The two plan to discuss U.S. concerns about Russia's military buildup on the Ukraine border and other topics, the U.S. source said. The two will discuss bilateral ties and implementation of agreements reached at the Geneva summit in June, the Kremlin told Reuters on Saturday.
Biden will discuss strategic stability, cyber and regional issues. The exact timing of the call was not known.
The conversation will take place on Tuesday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He said that the main items on the agenda are the negotiations between the two countries and the realisation of the agreements reached in Geneva.
More than 94,000 Russian troops are massed near Ukraine's borders. According to intelligence reports, Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Friday that Moscow may be planning a large-scale military offensive for the end of January.
Biden will underscore U.S. concerns over Russian military activities on the border with Ukraine and reaffirm the United States' support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the U.S. source said Saturday.
The U.S. president said on Friday that he and his advisers are preparing a comprehensive set of initiatives aimed at deterring Putin from an invasion. He did not give any more details, but the Biden administration has discussed partnering with European allies to impose more sanctions on Russia.
Moscow accuses Kyiv of pursuing its own military build-up. It dismissed as inflammatory suggestions that it is preparing for an attack on its southern neighbor and defended its right to deploy troops on its own territory as it sees fit.
The U.S. officials don't know yet what Putin's intentions are, but it is not known whether a final decision will be made, while intelligence points to preparations for a possible invasion of Ukraine.
U.S.-Russia relations have been deteriorating for years, notably Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, its 2015 intervention in Syria and U.S. intelligence charges of meddling in the 2016 election won by now-former President Donald Trump.
They have become more volatile in the last few months.
The Biden administration has asked Moscow to take action against ransomware and cyber crime attacks on Russian soil, and charged a Ukrainian national and a Russian in one of the worst ransomware attacks against American targets in November.
Russia has denied or has tolerating cyber attacks.
Since Biden took office in January, the two leaders have had a face-to-face meeting, sitting down for talks in Geneva last June. They talked on July 9 by phone. Biden relishes direct talks with world leaders, seeing them as a way to lower tensions.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Stockholm earlier this week that the United States and its European allies would impose severe costs and consequences on Russia if it takes further aggressive action against Ukraine.