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WASHINGTON: “As of this moment, I’m convinced he’s made the decision (to invade Ukraine),” US President Joe Biden tweeted on Friday. His comments went way ahead of previous US assessments in which the president and his aides had said they did not know whether Putin had made a final decision on the invasion. They are now expressing certainty. US officials have said Russia has amassed the greatest firepower in the region since World War II.
Amid some scepticism over the alarming US appraisal, Biden explained that the US is “calling out Russia’s plans. . . not because we want a conflict, but because we are doing everything in our power to remove any reason Russia may give to justify invading Ukraine”. While Biden said “it is not too late (for Russia) to de-escalate and return to the negotiating table”, Putin has offered to “go on the negotiating track under the condition that all questions will be considered together, without being separated from Russia’s main proposals”. Those proposals include iron-clad commitment that Ukraine would not be drafted as a member of Nato and pulling back Nato forces from Eastern Europe. US and Nato have rejected them.
Washington and Moscow have tentatively agreed on talks between secretary of state Antony Blinken and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for Wednesday, but Biden warned they will be off if Russia invades Ukraine before that.



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