going forward, both involves and is closely coordinated with, european allied partners so we are all on the same page. there is a lot of work to do in the days ahead. as we pursue diplomatic channels. we will prepare for all contingencies as we have been doing for weeks now, including through the preparation of specific responses to russian escalation should they be required. specific, robust, clear responses should they be required. that s where things stand as we speak and with that, i d be ha ep to take your questions. yes. can you elaborate on what you said about fortifying allies on the eastern flank. is sending u.s. troops on the table here? so, what i m referring to there is in the event that there is a further invasion into ukraine, a military escalation into ukraine, obviously, many of our partners on the eastern front, baltic allies, romania, poland, other countries will be increasingly concerned about
and to try to avert the invasion and deter the invasion into ukraine. that is the object of our policy right now. those are the steps we are taking. that s what president biden is doing and the messages that he s sending to president putin and with respect to taiwan, the sum total of the efforts we ve undertaken over the course of the past eight months in the indo pacific have also all be geared towards avoiding any kind of scenario, where china chooses to run freely. are there any thoughts on the russian side to use leverage to change iran s division? the president and president putin had a good discussion on the iran issue. it was productive. russia and the united states actually worked well together, even in intense circumstance back in the 2014-2015 to reduce the action. this is where russia and the united states can insure closely to make sure iran never gets
week, are there any in ukraine might be able to find a way to end this peacefully? so again as i mentioned before, we re in constant contact with senior levels of the ukrainian government. secretary blinken just spoke with president zelenski yesterday. they have come forward with constructive idea for how to move the diplomacy forward. we re encouraging that those are steps they re taking. they re asking the united states to support them in trying to get towards a cease-fire and then ultimately get down the track of diplomatic resolution. we believe that that is good and positive and i believe that president biden and zelenski will discuss that diplomatic path. with regard to nord stream 2, you said they should risk the pipe line being turned down. have you made clear to allies you will, in fact, sanction the remaining entities involved in
we are laying out for the russians in some detail the types of measures we have in mind. we are coordinating with our european allies. we have experts from the treasury department, the state department and national security council in daily contact with the key capitals in brussels to work through that package of measures. you think it is not profitable for us to layout the specifics of it standing here at this podium today. thank you. did president putin ask for president biden to commit to not allow nato or ukraine to join nato? and did president biden make any kind of concession as a reduced u.s. presence or anything on nato and ukraine s membership? i m not going to characterize president putin s side of the conversation or go into details in terms of what they discussed because i think they need to have that space to be able to have robust, change. but i will tell you clearly and directly, he made no clear
west because if vladimir putin wants to see gas flow through that pipeline, he may not want to take the risk of invading ukraine. number three, the president has shown over the course of the past eight months, he will to what he says he will do in response to russian action. he said he will impose costs for novale and solar wind, if vladimir putin takes the same action, she not doing this to save irrattle, to make idle threats. he is dock it to prepare and direct with both the russians and with our european allies about the best way forward. we think this stands the best chance alongside a pathway to deescalate, to aver a potential crisis with respect to an invasion of ukraine. in repeat days, starting on new years ago did putin bring