Washington will send its military to the B9 countries (the "Bucharest Nine" - Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Estonia) if Russia attempts to "invade" Ukraine.

This was stated by US President Joe Biden.

“We will have to send more American and NATO troops to the eastern flank - to the countries of the Bucharest Nine and all those NATO countries for which we have a sacred obligation to protect them from any attack from Russia,” he said at a press conference in Wilmington, Delaware.

At the same time, Biden, answering a journalist's question about the White House's refusal to deploy an American contingent in Ukraine, stressed that "this option has never been considered."

“Are you ready to send American troops to Ukraine to fight the Russians on the battlefield?” The president asked a counter question.

At the same time, he noted that the United States will continue to provide Kiev with "defense capabilities."

However, Biden's main focus was on the economic impact on Moscow.

“I made it absolutely clear to President Putin that if he invaded Ukraine, the economic consequences for his economy would be devastating,” the American leader stressed.

  • President of the United States Joe Biden

  • Reuters

  • © Kevin Lamarque

In his opinion, all this can significantly affect Russia and change the attitude of the rest of the world towards it.

"He (Vladimir Putin. -

RT

) will pay a terrible price," Biden promised.

"Does not apply to Ukraine"

This is not the first time that the current head of the White House has spoken about Washington's lack of plans to use its troops in the Ukrainian conflict.

Earlier, on December 8, Biden noted that the United States has obligations to directly protect only NATO member countries from military aggression by third countries, and Ukraine is not among them.

“We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies in the event that they are attacked, in accordance with the fifth article (of the NATO charter -

RT

), this is a sacred obligation.

This obligation does not extend ... to Ukraine, ”Biden emphasized at a press conference.

At the same time, the United States is in no hurry to abandon the further expansion of NATO's infrastructure near Russia's borders.

“We have made it clear… that NATO's doors are open and we are committed to an open door policy… that NATO must remain an affordable option for candidate states,” State Department spokesman Ned Price explained in a December 7 briefing.

In this regard, he called all the concerns expressed in this regard by Russia "chatter".

“The idea that NATO or a country aspiring to membership like Ukraine could pose a threat to Russia ... would be ridiculous if the situation were not so serious,” the diplomat said.

  • NATO troops on exercises in Latvia

  • AP

  • © Roman Koksarov

At the same time, the North Atlantic Alliance itself is not eager to provide military support to Ukraine.

As the Secretary General of the bloc Jens Stoltenberg emphasized, Kiev is valued primarily as a partner, but they do not put it on a par with the members of the organization.

“There is a difference between Ukraine, a close and valuable partner whom we support, and the NATO allies with whom we are linked by the article on collective defense and security guarantees under the Washington Treaty,” he said at a press conference following the meeting on December 1. of NATO foreign ministers in Riga.

Russia's position

Meanwhile, Moscow has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the North Atlantic Alliance is pursuing a confrontational policy towards the Russian Federation and called the bloc's advance to the east, including towards Ukraine, unacceptable.

This topic, in particular, was discussed at the talks between Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 7.

"Vladimir Putin ... stressed that the responsibility should not be shifted onto the shoulders of Russia, since it is NATO that is making dangerous attempts to conquer Ukrainian territory and is building up its military potential at our borders," the Kremlin press service said after the talks.

The Russian President later noted that the expansion of NATO cannot but worry Moscow.

Indeed, according to him, after the alleged entry of Ukraine into the alliance, the deployment of military contingents, bases and weapons threatening the Russian Federation on its territory may follow.

“How can we not think about it?

It would be just a criminal inaction on our part - to limp to watch what is happening there.

This is the subject of our talks, - said Putin during a press conference following the talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on December 9.

“We agreed that we would create an appropriate structure that would be able to deal with this substantively, in detail, and we would submit appropriate proposals.”

He also called the allegations that Moscow was preparing an "attack" on Ukraine provocative, emphasizing the peacefulness of the Russian foreign policy.

  • the Moscow Kremlin

  • RIA News

  • © Alexey Danichev

At the same time, on December 8, the Russian Foreign Ministry handed the US Embassy in the Russian Federation a note of protest in connection with the increasing provocations of American and NATO aircraft, as well as naval ships near the borders of Russia.

“Reserving the right to respond to the corresponding challenges from the United States and the NATO members led by it, we call for a substantive dialogue on security guarantees and the discussion of ways to reduce military-political tensions ... Otherwise, to prevent and eliminate emerging threats, all existing our funds are at our disposal, "- said in the comment of the official representative of the department Maria Zakharova.

"Substitution of positions and concepts"

Experts interviewed by RT agreed that the United States does not plan to take full responsibility if the conflict in Donbass goes into an acute phase, but they also cannot refuse to support Kiev. After all, Ukraine continues to be a convenient tool for Washington to put pressure on Russia, and therefore, according to American political scientist Malek Dudakov, Biden makes cautious statements so as not to give too much hope to his Ukrainian partners and at the same time preserve his image.

“If Biden began to loudly declare that he was ready to send regular units to Ukraine, this would be regarded as inciting the situation.

And what is happening in this case is just an attempt to save face, since many in the United States and Europe accused him of an excessively soft course towards Russia.

That is why he announced that in a certain situation, Washington can send troops, but at the same time Biden knows that Moscow will not get involved in the conflict, "Dudakov explained in an interview with RT.

According to him, in the situation with Ukraine, Biden, despite attacks on Moscow, prefers to take a wait-and-see attitude and use the current situation to increase his rating.

“After all, immediately after the talks with Vladimir Putin, during which, among other things, the Ukrainian crisis was discussed, a summit in support of democracies started.

And Biden, figuratively speaking, rode a white horse to this event, showing his doubting partners in Brussels, London, Berlin that America is capable of participating in resolving such conflicts and difficult situations, ”the political scientist said.

  • Ukrainian servicemen in Donbass

  • Reuters

  • © Serhiy Takhmazov

Andrei Suzdaltsev, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics, shares a similar opinion.

According to him, the composition of the participants in the last summit was formed more according to geopolitical criteria than according to those that correspond to the American interpretation of democracy.

“There is a substitution of positions and concepts in order to create a new kind of bloc that would be the antagonist of Russia and Beijing, depending on the specific geographic location of one or another participant in the summit. So democracy and its values ​​were used here only as an excuse. In general, the United States is trying to consolidate the invited countries in the name of its own geopolitical interests. And Ukraine is one of those whom Washington intends to continue to use for its own benefit, "Suzdaltsev explained in an interview with RT.

At the same time, he believes that the American elites, led by Biden, are well aware that Russia will never escalate the situation in Donbass, let alone initiate military action there. At the same time, Suzdaltsev does not exclude that Washington can indeed send additional contingents to the countries of the Bucharest Nine without any pretext, since they are part of NATO. However, the analyst is sure that the United States is not interested in deepening the conflict in Donbass, and therefore is trying to focus on the economic impact on Russia, and not on the military one.

“This is an attempt to find a compromise with Kiev, which is determined to some kind of provocation so that the West will intercede for it.

After all, Ukraine is already actually directly rejecting the Minsk agreements and is building up its military presence in Donbass.

However, the Kiev authorities alone cannot compete with Moscow, but at the same time they have no other options for solving the problem of belonging to the resource territory of Donbass, "Suzdaltsev argues.

However, the use of force in the development of events in Donbass does not suit the United States and Europe, so they directly make it clear to Kiev that they will not get involved in the conflict on its side, but can support them with weapons.

Analysts regard Moscow's current tactics with regard to the conflict in southeastern Ukraine as very balanced.

“Although all the recent events around Ukraine encourage Russia to build up its defense potential, I think that Moscow understands very well how high the stakes are, and therefore the Russian Federation will not succumb to these provocations,” Dudakov suggested.

Andrei Suzdaltsev, for his part, admitted that the Russian Federation, in response to the unfriendly actions of the United States and NATO, could further strengthen its defense ties with Belarus and other countries of the post-Soviet space, as well as modernize its weapons, as Vladimir Putin spoke about earlier.

“Russia can also strengthen its military presence in Kaliningrad.

I think this can become one of the options for defusing the situation, which is so actively heated up by some countries of Eastern Europe, ”the political scientist summed up.