Ex-Pentagon Adviser: Putin-Biden Talks Unlikely to Ease Tensions Amid US Inability to Compromise

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The virtual summit between the leaders of the United States and Russia is unlikely to ease tensions between the two countries largely due to the Biden administration’s ideological righteousness and inability to compromise, former senior Pentagon adviser Douglas Macgregor said.

"In truth, Washington has one interest in the current crisis - to prevent an unnecessary war between Ukraine and Russia, but Biden and his friends have deliberately ignored that interest because it would involve compromise," Macgregor said. "As a morally righteous leftist, he [Biden] is incapable of compromising on anything. Therein lies the problem."

Macgregor said Biden presented his "boilerplate" views shaped by the modern left’s sense of moral superiority and is surely unlikely to take Moscow’s concerns seriously.

"Meanwhile, Biden ignores Russian interests to Putin’s dismay and surprise," Macgregor concluded.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters afterwards that the virtual summit did not bring any breakthroughs but the leaders showed a desire to work and engage in dialogue. The White House, in a readout after the meeting, said both presidents have tasked teams to follow up on the issue concerning Ukraine.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan during a press briefing underscored that Biden made no concessions with respect to NATO during the virtual talks.

Senior State Department official Victoria Nuland on Tuesday told Congress the US would lead efforts to isolate Russia from the global financial system if it were to invade Ukraine.

Ushakov said Putin told the US president that the "red lines" for Moscow are the further advance of NATO to the east and the deployment by the alliance of offensive weapons in Ukraine.

During a two-hour virtual summit on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin pressed his US counterpart on the NATO military buildup and Ukraine’s failure to abide the Minsk agreements. President Joe Biden, for his part, warned about consequences if Russia should invade Ukraine.