Vice President Joe Biden stepped into the escalating crisis over Ukraine on Monday, urging Russian Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev to withdraw his nation’s forces from the Ukrainian Crimea.
The White House released a brief readout of Biden’s call:
Vice President Biden called Russian Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev this morning, following the Prime Minister’s discussion with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk over the weekend. The Vice President urged Russia to pull back its forces, support the immediate deployment of international monitors to Ukraine, and begin a meaningful political dialogue with the Ukrainian government.
On Saturday, President Barack Obama expressed his own “deep concern” over the escalating situation during a 90-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The call came hours after Russia’s upper chamber of Parliament approved Putin’s formal request to send troops into Ukraine.
The president also warned the Kremlin on Friday that there would be consequences for Russia’s incursion into its neighbor’s territory. “There will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine,” he said.
