Biden Invited Putin to Meet in a Third Country

The White House announced Joe Biden's offer to meet with Putin in a third country in the coming months. Amid reports of Russia's large military build-up on the border with Ukraine, US President Joe Biden suggested holding a summit meeting to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a third country in the coming months. Biden came up with this proposal during a telephone conversation with Putin on Tuesday, April 13, the White House said. As indicated in the statement, the American leader expressed concern over a sudden build-up of forces in the region bordering Donbass, also on the territory of Crimea annexed by Russia. In this regard, he considers it necessary to discuss in a personal meeting "the whole range of topics faced by the United States and Russia." Biden stated his goal of building a stable relationship with the Russia In addition, Biden called on the Russian president to make efforts to de-escalate the situation. He stressed the "unwavering commitment of the United States to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and reaffirmed his goal of building stable relations with Russia. In addition, during the conversation, they discussed Washington's intention to conduct a strategic dialogue with Moscow on security and arms control issues. The Kremlin has confirmed that Biden has offered Putin a meeting. “Both sides expressed their readiness to continue the dialogue on the most important areas of ensuring global security, which would meet the interests of not only Russia and the United States, but the entire world community,” the press service of the Russian president says. It was agreed to instruct the relevant departments to work through the issues raised during the telephone conversation." In recent weeks, reports have multiplied of the ongoing build-up of Russian troops to the Ukrainian border. US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki claimed the current concentration of Russian troops in the region is more than at any time since 2014. Kiev accused Moscow of deploying more than 80,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and in the annexed Crimea. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu explained the concentration of servicemen in these areas by "control checks."