WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden warned President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Tuesday that an invasion of Ukraine would result in heavy economic penalties for him and lead NATO to reposition its troops in Europe, measures that he said would go well beyond the West’s response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea seven years ago.

In a two-hour, secure video conference that American and Russian officials both described as tense but occasionally pierced by humor, Biden also said an invasion could end Russia’s hopes of completing the Nord Stream II gas pipeline to Europe, which would be a major new source of energy revenue.

It is too early to tell whether the much-anticipated conversation — whose details were hard to elicit, as both the White House and the Kremlin put their spin on it — will alleviate the immediate crisis in Ukraine, where roughly 70,000 Russian troops have massed, with more equipment and personnel

arriving every day.

Putin gave no indication of his ultimate intent, American officials said, leaving the world guessing whether he was actually planning an invasion early next year or trying to get the West to pay attention to his demands by manufacturing a crisis.

In a brief video of the opening moments of the call released by Russian state television, Putin said, “Greetings, Mr. President!”

“Good to see you again,” Biden responded warmly, after what appeared to be a brief connection glitch. He lamented that they had not seen each other in person this fall at the Group of 20 summit meeting. But neither side released any video of conversation on the issues at hand.

Not surprisingly, both sides portrayed their leaders as resolute. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said the president was “clear,’’ “direct” and “candid.”

The Russian government, in an unusually detailed description of the encounter, said Putin had warned Biden that Western military activity in and around Ukraine was approaching a “red line” that was threatening Russia’s security.

“There was no finger-wagging, but the president was crystal clear,’’ Sullivan told reporters after the session, which Biden conducted from the White House Situation Room and Putin from his retreat on the Black Sea. Asked for specifics about the consequences facing Russia, Sullivan declined to go into detail.

“I will look you in the eye and tell you, as President Biden looked President Putin in the eye and told him today, that things we did not do in 2014, we are prepared to do now,” Sullivan said, referring to the year Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula. Virtually no country has recognized the action, and Western powers continue to levy sanctions against Russia for it. But the sanctions have failed in their primary objective: to create enough pain for Russia that it returns the territory.

In recent days, American officials have said that a list of potential penalties being compiled by the Treasury Department, in collaboration with European allies, ranges from blocking Russian companies from access to global capital markets to financial penalties aimed at the Russian elite, especially the oligarchs who have helped finance and support Putin. The most extreme step — one that is still being debated — would be to cut Russia off from the global financial transaction system, called SWIFT, but some European officials have feared that step might provoke too harsh a response.

Sullivan also held out the possibility of “an alternative pathway by which we can make progress on diplomacy,’’ describing what would be, in essence, a return to a diplomatic process Russia engaged in six years ago — but has largely ignored since.

Russian officials said the tone of the call was “honest and businesslike.” But Putin’s key message, the Kremlin maintained, was that Western military activity was a threat to Russia and that the United States was raising tensions in the region by increasing its “military potential near our borders.”

What Putin sees as a red line, Ukraine and the West see as reasonable defense for a country that already lost control of Crimea — still “occupied territory,” in the U.S.’ description — and has been engaged in a war of attrition in Donbas, in the east.

Since the Crimea takeover, the United States has committed more than $2.5 billion in security assistance, including air surveillance radars, counterartillery radars, drones, secure communications armed patrol boats and, most importantly, Javelin antitank systems. The last of those have worried Russian military leaders enough that some of the tanks seen massing on the borders are sporting new deflectors, like a metal umbrella, to deceive the missile’s homing systems.

The summit had the feel of a return to the East-West politics of the Cold War, when NATO strategy was focused on how to halt an invasion from the former Soviet Union, and Moscow was seeking respect and deference. But at stake was the continued independence of Ukraine, which won its independence after the fall of the Soviet Union, whose collapse Putin has described as a tragedy of 20th-century geopolitics. And White House aides were highly aware that while their options were limited — there is no discussion of direct military involvement by the United States — a failure to deter Putin could be seen as a sign of weakness around the world, especially by China.

Putin speaks often about Ukraine’s historical and ethnic ties to Russia, saying they are “one people,” and finds Kyiv’s talk of eventual membership in NATO and the European Union both a security threat and an affront to his country’s national pride.

Speaking to a Wall Street Journal forum Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the crisis “bigger even than Ukraine,” saying that not only is the fate of the former Soviet republic at stake but also the larger principle that international borders should not be violated or redrawn by force.

CIA Director William Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, also spoke at the forum. He said Putin may conclude in the next few months — as the ground freezes in the marshy territory on the Russia-Ukraine border and Russia completes its military buildup — that the time is ripe for action.

Burns added that in Putin’s view, the major European allies are “distracted with the transition beyond Chancellor Merkel in Germany” and with France preparing for presidential elections next spring.

“He sees himself in a position of relative economic strength compared to where the Russian economy was a couple of years ago, with high energy prices and his eyes probably enhancing Russia leverage,” he said of Putin.

Biden’s task Tuesday was to change that view and use what little leverage he has — since it is clear to Putin that there is no circumstance in which U.S. or NATO troops would directly enter any battle to defend Ukraine.

When Biden raised the threat of new economic steps to isolate Moscow, an adviser to Putin, Yuri Ushakov, said the Russian leader diminished the importance of such steps, saying that “sanctions are not a new thing for Russia.”