"Unless the United States doesn't go to bed with Ukraine, I don't think so," Lavrov said. All of this high-stakes geopolitical chess, then, comes down to how intimate the US gets with Ukraine in the eyes of Russia. Spreading Russian power further into Ukraine would be a logical step and a direct challenge to Western democracies. Putin feels threatened by NATO and feels that NATO support for Ukraine is a "red line." One way to mollify Putin may be for Biden and European leaders to promise not to bring Ukraine into the NATO fold.

Source: CNN January 23, 2022 10:56 UTC