US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron agreed on the need to verify Russia's announcement that it had begun withdrawing its forces from the border with Ukraine, while US senators called for sanctions against Moscow.

On Tuesday evening, Russia announced that some of its forces had returned to their bases after exercises near Ukraine, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to continue dialogue with the West.

The French presidency said, in a statement, that Biden and Macron agreed - during a phone call - to maintain full coordination in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For its part, the White House said that the two presidents discussed, during the call, the ongoing deterrence efforts in coordination with allies, including the readiness to impose severe consequences and strengthening the defensive position in the eastern flank of NATO.

The White House added that Biden and Macron affirmed their continued support for the diplomatic track to resolve the crisis between Ukraine and Russia.

In the context, US and European officials said that the United States and its allies are ready to respond to any Russian cyber-attacks amid heightened tensions over Ukraine, and that the scope of measures taken or retaliatory sanctions will depend on the extent of the breaches.

And US President Joe Biden announced - hours after Ukraine announced that the Ministry of Defense and two banks were hacked - that Washington is closely coordinating with allies in NATO and other partners to expand their defenses to counter threats in cyberspace.

US and European officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that "the attacks, which Western security experts believe may have been carried out by Russia, were unexpected."


sanctions

In Washington, US senators on Tuesday sent a "letter of solidarity" to the Ukrainian people, which also contained a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite the Senate's failure to agree on a bill to impose sanctions against Moscow.

"At this difficult moment, we are sending a message of bipartisan solidarity and determination to the Ukrainian people, as well as a clear warning to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin," 12 prominent senators, Democrats and Republicans, said in a statement.

In turn, Jim Risch, the top Republican on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a group of Senate Republicans introduced a resolution to impose sanctions on Russia if it invaded Ukraine, and to provide the support Ukraine needs to defend itself.

In a statement, Resch said that the draft resolution immediately halts the "Nordstream 2" project, sends a strong deterrent message and imposes significant economic and military sanctions on Russia.

This draft resolution comes after the failure of Republicans and Democrats to reach a consensus formula on a package of bipartisan sanctions.

Democratic Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez responded to Rich's bill by saying that Republicans had decided to take partisan positions rather than work on a compromise sanctions formula that would show a united front to deter Russia from invading Ukraine.


persistent fears

For his part, US President Joe Biden said that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was "still a possibility", and that reports that some Russian forces had moved away from the Ukrainian border had not yet been verified by the United States.

"We are ready to respond decisively to any Russian attack on Ukraine, which is a very high possibility," Biden added, warning that Western sanctions against Russia were "ready" if it launched an attack on Ukraine.

The US president urged Russia to retreat from the brink of war, noting that America "does not seek direct confrontation with Russia," but threatened to "respond strongly" if Russia attacked Americans in Ukraine, and pledged to protect every inch of NATO member states ( NATO).

For its part, the US State Department said that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Tuesday that the United States had continuing concerns about Russia's ability to invade Ukraine, and needed vision for a "verifiable and credible de-escalation."

State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken told Lavrov that Washington was committed to seeking a diplomatic solution to the "crisis created by Moscow" and that he looked forward to Russia's written response to US and NATO proposals on European security.


aggressive speech

In turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Lavrov stressed the need to continue working together and called for a practical dialogue on security, but told Blinken that "the aggressive rhetoric exaggerated by Washington is unacceptable."

Lavrov condemned the "hostile rhetoric adopted by Washington," and called for "a pragmatic dialogue on all the issues raised by Russia," according to the Russian statement.

Russia announced on Tuesday that some of its forces had returned to their bases after exercises near Ukraine, and mocked repeated Western warnings of an "imminent invasion", but did not say how many units were being withdrawn and to what extent.

"Do we want war or not? Certainly not, that's why we presented our proposals for a negotiating process," Putin said - at a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz after lengthy talks between them in Moscow.

The Russian president added that he discussed with the German chancellor security guarantees, and confirmed Moscow's readiness to continue exporting gas to Europe via Ukraine.

Putin said Russia was ready to continue talks with the West on security issues, but was not satisfied with vague talk that Ukraine was not ready to join NATO soon.


good signals

Tensions remain high between Russia on the one hand and the West and Ukraine on the other, but the German chancellor said after his meeting with Putin on Tuesday in the Kremlin that the withdrawal of Russian forces was a "good sign".

Ukraine said the reported withdrawal "must be verified to be credible", while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that "the intelligence we have seen is still not encouraging."

As for NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, he welcomed the "indications from Russia" in the past two days, saying that it "may seek a diplomatic solution", but urged Moscow to "demonstrate its willingness to act."

In an interview with reporters, he added, "There are signs from Moscow that diplomacy must continue. This gives reasons for cautious optimism. But so far we have not seen any sign of Russia de-escalation on the ground."

He said that Russia often leaves military equipment behind after exercises, which creates the possibility of re-mobilizing forces.

Russia has repeatedly denied accusations of plotting to invade Ukraine, and says it has the right to train forces on its territory as it sees fit.

Moscow is pressing for a set of security guarantees from the West, including that Ukraine will not join NATO in the future, because it considers this an expansion of the alliance on its borders and a threat to its security.