US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet for the US-Russia summit at Villa La Grange in Geneva, Switzerland on June 16, 2021. REUTERS / Denis Balibouse / Pool

WASHINGTON / MOSCOW, December 4 (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a video call on Tuesday to address military tensions over other Ukrainian matters.

Biden is keen to discuss US concerns over Russia’s military build-up on the Ukrainian border, a US source said on Saturday, as well as strategic stability, cybernetic and regional issues.

“We’ve known about Russia’s actions for a long time and I expect we’ll have a long talk with Putin,” Biden told reporters on Friday as he left for a weekend at Camp David. “I don’t accept red lines from anyone,” he said.

The two men will also talk about bilateral relations and the implementation of agreements reached at their summit in Geneva in June, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

“The conversation will take place on Tuesday,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters. “Bilateral relations, of course Ukraine and the realization of the agreements reached in Geneva are the main (items) on the agenda,” he said.

More than 94,000 Russian soldiers are massed near the borders of Ukraine. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Friday that Moscow may be considering a full-scale military offensive by the end of January, citing intelligence reports.

Biden will reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the U.S. source said. The exact time of the call was not disclosed. The White House declined to comment.

The US president said on Friday that he and his advisers were preparing a comprehensive package of initiatives to deter Putin from an invasion. He didn’t give more details, but the Biden administration has discussed partnering with European allies to impose more sanctions on Russia.

Moscow accuses Kiev of continuing its own military reinforcement. He dismissed as inflammatory suggestions that he was preparing for an attack on his neighbor to the south and defended his right to deploy troops in his own territory as he saw fit.

U.S. officials say they don’t yet know what Putin’s intentions are, adding that while the intelligence points to preparations for a possible invasion of Ukraine, it’s not clear whether a final decision has been made.

US-Russian relations have deteriorated for years, notably with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea to Ukraine, its 2015 intervention in Syria and accusations of US secret service interference in the 2016 elections. won by former President Donald Trump.

But they have become more volatile in recent months.

The Biden administration called on Moscow to crack down on ransomware and cybercrime attacks emanating from Russian soil, and in November it indicted a Ukrainian national and a Russian in one of the worst ransomware attacks against US targets.

Russia has repeatedly denied that it has carried out or condoned cyber attacks.

The two leaders have had a face-to-face meeting since Biden took office in January, meeting for talks in Geneva last June. They last spoke by phone on July 9. Biden appreciates direct talks with world leaders, seeing them as a way to reduce tensions.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Stockholm earlier this week that the United States and its European allies would impose “serious costs and consequences on Russia if it takes further action. aggressive against Ukraine ”.

Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington Editing by Heather Timmons and Alistair Bell

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