U.S. President Joe Biden said he thinks Russian leader Vladimir Putin doesn’t want a full-blown war but will "move in” on Ukraine after amassing 100,000 troops on its border, in part of an extraordinarily blunt assessment of Russian intentions and the West’s likely response.
"I’m not so sure he has — is certain — about what he’s going to do,” Biden said of his Russian counterpart during a nearly two hourlong news conference Wednesday marking his first year in office. "My guess is he will move in, he has to do something.”
While the president said the U.S. and its European allies are united on making sure Russia faces "severe economic consequences,” Biden acknowledged what his top aides have so far said only in private: that NATO allies are divided about what to do if Russia takes action against Ukraine that falls short of an invasion.
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