section_path: History/Biden administration (2021–2025)/2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
section_name: 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
paragraph_text: 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis
  
  In late 2021 and early 2022, Russian troops build up along the Russo-Ukrainian border, resulted in renewed tensions between Russia and NATO. Senior officials of the Biden administration reported that Russia had only withdrawn a few thousand troops since the previous military buildup in early 2021. The New York Times estimated over 80,000 Russian troops still remain at the Russo-Ukrainian border by September 2021. The Kremlin repeatedly denied that it had any plans to invade Ukraine.
  
  On November 30, 2021, Putin stated that an expansion of NATO's presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Russian cities or missile defence systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a "red line" issue for the Kremlin. Putin asked President Joe Biden for legal guarantees that NATO wouldn't expand eastward or put "weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory." The U.S. rejected Putin's demands.
  
  Biden and Putin discussed the crisis over the course of a 50-minute phone call on December 30, 2021. Bilateral talks began in Geneva on January 10, 2022, to discuss the Russo-Ukrainian war as well as longstanding Russian concerns regarding NATO postering in Eastern Europe. The talks were led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. On January 31, 2022, both the United States and Russia discussed the crisis at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. The discussion was tense, with both sides accusing the other of stoking tensions.
  
  The United States government increased military support to Ukraine through a $650 million arms deal. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley threatened U.S. support for an anti-Russian insurgency within Ukraine. The Biden administration approved deliveries of American-made FIM-92 Stinger surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine. The government threatened severe sanctions against Russia as well as personal sanctions against Putin and his allies. The United States also threatened to halt the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would send Russian natural gas to Germany, "if Russia invades Ukraine one way or another."
  
  In January 2022, the United States accused Russia of sending saboteurs into Ukraine to stage "a false-flag operation" that would create a pretext for Russia to invade Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the U.S. claim as "total disinformation." On February 4, 2022, Lavrov dismissed as "nonsense" and "craziness" allegations by the United States that Russia was preparing a fake video of the Ukrainian forces attacking the separatist-held Donbas as a pretext for starting a war in Ukraine.
  
  On January 19, 2022, President Biden said that he believed Russia would invade Ukraine. Biden said a full-scale invasion of Ukraine would be "the most consequential thing that's happened in the world in terms of war and peace" since World War II. Biden and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy disagreed on how imminent the threat was. On February 10, 2022, Biden urged all American citizens in Ukraine to leave immediately. On February 11, 2022, Biden's national security advisor Jake Sullivan publicly warned about the likelihood of a Russian invasion of Ukraine prior to the end of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
  
  The Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll, conducted on July 26, 2021, found that 50% of Americans supported the use of U.S. troops to defend Ukraine if Russia invaded the rest of the country.
  
  In December 2021, a Levada Center poll found that about 50% of Russians believed that the U.S. and NATO were responsible for the Russo-Ukrainian crisis, while 16% blamed Ukraine and just 4% blamed Russia.
  
  In February 2022, according to the White House, U.S. president Joe Biden stated in a video conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin that if Russia invades Ukraine, Washington and its allies will respond "decisively and impose fast and severe penalties."
  
  On February 16, 2022, the U.S. State Department stated that Russia is seeking to establish a "pretext" for invading Ukraine by making unsubstantiated claims of "genocide" and mass graves in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
  
  On February 20, 2022, the US secretary of state showed his concern about the continuation of Russian military drills in Belarus. According to Antony Blinken, Moscow's decision to keep roughly 30,000 troops in Belarus, near to Ukraine, amid increased tensions in the east justifies US's concerns.
  
  On February 22, 2022, U.S. president Joe Biden criticized Russia's recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic as "the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine" and announced sanctions against on banks VEB and Promsvyazbank and comprehensive sanctions on Russia's sovereign debt in response.