Russia has been demanding security guarantees from the US and NATO, including a binding pledge that NATO won’t expand further east and will not allow Ukraine to join the military alliance.
Biden has previously signaled that the US will not make any concessions on either NATO or Ukraine’s future.
Russia and NATO also intend to hold a separate meeting on January 12, both the NSC spokesman and a NATO press officer confirmed to CNN.
Both sides are also expected to engage during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe scheduled for January 13, according to the US spokesman.
US officials plan to consult with Ukraine regularly on the side as the negotiations take place next month, a White House official told CNN, since Ukraine is not a member of two of the three bodies set to meet in early January to discuss the country’s future and Russia’s demands that NATO not expand further eastward.
Asked why the White House plans to use the US-Russia strategic stability dialogue — traditionally reserved for nuclear arms talks — for talks about Ukraine and NATO, the official said the administration wanted to use an existing format as a vehicle for the talks instead of creating a new one specifically for that purpose. The US and Russia are still going back and forth over the agenda.
The official said the White House believes talks would be more productive in an environment of de-escalation, but said the status of the talks were not contingent upon Russia drawing down. The White House still believes diplomacy is the most responsible path forward “even if we don’t get everything we want,” the official said.
This story has been updated.
CNN’s Anna Chernova and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.