United States President, Joe Biden, and Russian President, Vladimir Putin, have agreed in principle to a summit over the Ukraine crisis.
This, the office of French President, Emmanuel Macron, said, so long as Moscow does not invade Ukraine.
In a statement released early on Monday, February 21, 2022, the Elysee Palace said Macron has pitched both leaders on a summit about “security and strategic stability in Europe”.
According to the statement, “Presidents Biden and Putin have both accepted the principle of such a summit,” stressing that such a meeting would be impossible if Russia invades Ukraine as Western nations fear is Russia’s intention.
The White House later confirmed the planned summit. Press Secretary, Jen Psaki, in a statement noted that the US is “committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins.”
“President Biden accepted in principle a meeting with President Putin …if an invasion hasn’t happened. We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war. And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon.”
Statement by US Press Secretary, Jen Psaki
There is no immediate comment from the Kremlin, but Vladimir Putin said after his call with Macron on Sunday, February 20, 2022, that diplomatic efforts needed to intensify in order to find a resolution to the crisis.
Macron’s office and the White House said that the “substance” of the summit would be worked out by US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, during a meeting planned for February 24, 2022.
A local reporter, Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, DC, said that the summit appears to be framed as a discussion on a new security structure for Russia and Western countries in Europe, which is what Russia has been pushing for.
The announcement follows a series of phone calls between Macron and leaders on both sides of the Atlantic amid heightened tensions over the situation in Ukraine, where Russia has massed thousands of troops near the border.
While the possible summit offers hope of a possible way out of the crisis, military tension remains high after neighbouring Belarus announced that Russia would extend military drills in the country that was due to end on Sunday, February 20, 2022. Satellite images also appeared to show new deployments of Russian equipment and troops in farms and forests as near as 15km (9.3 miles) to the Ukrainian border.
Blinken said on Sunday, February 20, 2022, that the extension of the exercises in Belarus left him more concerned that Russia was on the brink of an attack.
“Everything we are seeing suggests that this is dead serious,” Blinken told the media.
“Until the tanks are actually rolling, and the planes are flying, we will use every opportunity and every minute we have to see if diplomacy can still dissuade President Putin from carrying this forward.”
US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken
There is a sharp increase in fighting across the line dividing Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine since Thursday, February 17, 2022.
On Monday, February 14, 2022, an explosion was heard in the centre of Donetsk, with Russia’s local news agency quoting rebels that two civilians have been killed in shelling (a battery of guns being fired on an enemy target) by Ukrainian government forces.
Russia accused Ukraine of attacking its territory, and separatist leaders have since called for a mass evacuation of civilians to Russia and declared a full military mobilisation.
US and Ukrainian officials disclosed these attacks have been staged as a pretext for a Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, Moscow has said it has no plans to Ukraine, but the situation is causing increased unease among Russia’s neighbours in Eastern Europe.
Estonian President, Alar Karis, in a Twitter post, said: “We are seeing a planned, premeditated escalation by Russia. No matter the outcome, the message could not be clearer: nothing uttered by the Russian state can, unfortunately, be trusted.”
A former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, on Twitter, said he is sceptical about the meeting.
“But if Biden and Putin did meet, they should invite [Zelenskyy] to join.”
Former US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul
On Sunday, February 20, 2022, the White House revealed that President Joe Biden cancelled a planned trip to Delaware to remain in Washington, DC, following a two-hour meeting of his National Security Council.
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