Biden threatens Russia with 'severe sanctions' if Ukraine is attacked; US troops not to be involved

US President Joe Biden has claimed that he has warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that Moscow will be facing economic sanctions if Ukraine is attacked by his forces.

Biden claims he made it very clear that Russia will be facing economic sanctions ‘like never before’ if Russian forces launch an attack on Ukraine. "I made it very clear if in fact he invades Ukraine there will be severe consequences, severe consequences — economic consequences like none he's ever seen or ever have been seen," Biden told reporters at the White House.

Not just this, the US President also claims that the Russian President received "the message". His warning comes a few hours after the two world leaders met each other in a virtual meeting.

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While Biden has issued such a strong statement against his Russian counterpart to protect Ukraine, he has also added that sending US soldiers to Ukraine to help confront Russia is "not on the table".

"The idea the United States is going to unilaterally use force to confront Russia invading Ukraine is not on the cards right now," Biden said. "We have a moral obligation and a legal obligation to our NATO allies under Article Five. It's a sacred obligation. That obligation does not extend to... Ukraine."

"But it would depend upon what the rest of the NATO countries were willing to do as well," Biden added.

Speaking the same tune as his President, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claims that the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, reiterated a similar message on this topic. The two have "agreed on the need to impose swift and severe costs on Russia if it escalates its aggression in Ukraine," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

However, Russia has claimed that the troops are marching towards the border as a defensive measure, and not to attack Ukraine. "Russia has a peaceful foreign policy, but has the right to defend its security," Putin said at a news conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. "We cannot but be concerned about the prospect of Ukraine's possible admission to NATO, because this will undoubtedly be followed by the deployment of appropriate military contingents, bases and weapons that threaten us."

France, too, has supported US’ statement on this issue and warned of similar "strategic and massive consequences". The new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, too, warned Putin of consequences in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the Russian project to deliver natural gas to Germany, if such an attack takes place.

(With inputs from agencies)