NEW YORK, January 21. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden by mentioning Russia’s alleged "minor incursion" into Ukraine was not giving a "green light" to Moscow to do so, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told CNN on Thursday.

The host asked the spokeswoman whether Biden’s remarks at Wednesday's press conference meant that the US was giving Russia a "green light" to perform a "minor incursion" into Ukraine. "That's absolutely not what our intention was, or not the message we sent, the president, most importantly, has sent to President Putin," she stated in response.

According to her, the Ukrainian leadership knows "where the [US] president stands." "If the Russians move into Ukraine, if they move militarily into Ukraine, there will be severe consequences," the press secretary added.

On Wednesday, the US president said that a "minor incursion" by Russia into Ukraine may cause a more restrained reaction from the US and its allies than a full-scale invasion. Following this, the White House spokeswoman issued a separate statement noting that the US would consider any crossing of the Ukrainian border by Russian troops a "renewed invasion." On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also had to comment on Biden’s remarks at a joint press conference with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, confirming the position expressed by Psaki.

On December 17, 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry published the draft agreements between Moscow and Washington on security guarantees and the measures of ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. Russia-US consultations on these issues were held on January 10 in Geneva, a session of the NATO-Russia Council was held on January 12 in Brussels and a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council where these initiatives were also discussed took place on January 13 in Vienna.

Following the consultations on security guarantees, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that the purported threat of Russia invading Ukraine couldn’t be a subject of the talks on security guarantees with the US. He said Moscow had no plans to "attack" Ukraine and there was no reason to be concerned about an escalation. According to the senior diplomat, disinformation by Western intelligence agencies that Russia was allegedly preparing to attack Ukraine was designed to sow discord in Ukraine. He added that Russia would continue to hold military exercises on its territory, despite objections from NATO.