BUTTING HEADS

Putin Threatens ‘Complete Rupture’ if Biden Bites Back Over Ukraine

The conversation came in advance of bilateral talks scheduled to begin next month.

The dance between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine got feisty Thursday, with the Russian strongman threatening a “complete rupture” of relations if Biden slaps sanctions on the country if it invades Ukraine. The threat came during a phone call Putin requested in advance of bilateral talks between the two scheduled for next month. Biden pushed back against Putin’s aggression, with two officials telling The New York Times he “made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.” The conversation is the second the two have had this month over Ukraine, with Russia offering little information about whether it plans to invade its neighbor. In recent months, it has stationed about 100,000 troops near the country’s border and has urged NATO and the U.S. to withdraw their own forces, but it has not yet launched any of its own troops into Ukraine. Other items discussed included Russia’s opposition to NATO forces in general and nuclear and non-nuclear “global strike” weapons on Ukraine’s border.