White House: Biden and Putin Meeting Is Not Foreseen Yet

A condition for the meeting of the presidents of the United States and Russia is the de-escalation of the conflict around Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Psaki said. US President Joe Biden has no intentions of meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the aggravation of the situation in eastern Ukraine, White House Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki said on Tuesday evening, February 22. According to her, “at present, of course, this is not planned”. The American side will not completely “shut the door for diplomacy”, but de-escalation is a necessary condition for its successful continuation, Psaki stressed. Blinken and Lavrov meeting cancelled Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken canceled a face-to-face meeting scheduled for February 24 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva. Now there is “no point” in holding the event, since Russia “has made it clear that it completely rejects diplomacy”, the head of the American foreign Ministry said. Washington and its partners are always open to diplomatic cooperation, but Moscow needs to show a serious attitude, Blinken pointed out. Biden and Putin Meeting was Proposed by Macron French President Emmanuel Macron on February 21 proposed to hold a meeting of the leaders of the United States and the Russian Federation, having previously held telephone talks with each of them. The parties expressed their preliminary agreement, but the condition for the meeting was that Moscow would not launch an invasion of Ukraine. However, in the evening of the same day, Vladimir Putin first announced Russia’s recognition of the independence of the so-called DPR and LPR, and then ordered the introduction of Russian troops into the territories controlled by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. DW