Biden raises stakes in Ukraine stand-off as he phones Putin to tell him to back down: President warns Russian leader to 'de-escalate tensions' after Moscow told America to keep warships away 'for their own good'
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the cold shoulder to Joe Biden on Tuesday, playing coy on whether or not he would accept the proposal from the American president for a summit on the Ukraine. Biden dramatically raised the stakes with Russia when he called Putin and asked him to de-escalate its military situation in the Crimea and requested a peace summit amid rising tensions between the two nations. He made it 'clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to Russia's actions,' the White House said in a readout of the call as Moscow demanded Washington stay out of the Crimea. The president, in the call initiated by Washington D.C., proposed a summit meeting in a third country in coming months to discuss a range of issues between the two countries. Moscow confirmed the summit proposal but did not say whether Putin had agreed to it. The Russian buildup at the Ukrainian border has caused mounting alarm in the West, with the United States saying that troop levels are at their highest since 2014, when war first broke out with Moscow-backed separatists.