France said Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden had agreed “in principle” to participate in a proposed summit meeting to prevent a Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the Kremlin stressed that it was “premature” to speak of a meeting between the two heads of state.
The Paris initiative is a new diplomatic effort to contain the crisis.
The meeting proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron will be followed by a meeting with “all the parties involved” in this crisis in which “security and strategic stability in Europe will be addressed”, said the Élysée Palace.
Paris stressed, however, that the dialogue “cannot happen if Russia invades Ukraine”.
The White House confirmed Biden’s willingness to attend a meeting with Putin.
The US government is “committed to diplomacy until such time as the invasion begins,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. “President Biden has agreed in principle to a meeting with President Putin… if there is no invasion,” she added.
“We are also prepared to apply swift and severe sanctions if Russia chooses to go to war. And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale attack very soon on Ukraine,” Psaki said.
But the Russian government was much more cautious in commenting on the possible meeting between Putin and Biden.
“There is an understanding about the fact of having to continue the dialogue between (Foreign Affairs) ministers. Talking about concrete plans to organize summit meetings is premature,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov.
“A meeting is possible if the heads of state find it useful,” he added, before saying that Biden and Putin always have the possibility to talk “by phone or otherwise when necessary.”
The proposed meeting was announced after a weekend of diplomatic management by Macron, who spoke twice by phone with Putin, in addition to having dialogues with Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The French announcement came as Russia and Ukraine exchange accusations of responsibility for renewed fighting in Ukraine’s breakaway eastern region.
The agenda for the possible meeting should be prepared by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the French presidency.
The French announcement surprised and contrasts with the fear of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Blinken insisted on Sunday that Russia was “on the verge” of invading the neighboring country.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba welcomed the announcement of the meeting and said he expected an agreement on a withdrawal of Russian troops from the border.
“We think that any effort towards a diplomatic solution is worth trying (…). We hope that the two presidents will come out with an agreement on the withdrawal of Russian troops,” said Kuleba.
“There is a reality on the ground, a tension with a Russian military presence that remains extremely strong (…) and at the same time a diplomatic hope”, highlighted the French Secretary for European Affairs, Clément Beaune.
“We must remain ‘extremely prudent, but if there is still an opportunity to avoid war… we have to take advantage of it,” he added.
– Satellite images –
Satellite images from the American company Maxar show alleged new deployments of Russian troops and military equipment near the border with Ukraine.
The images show “multiple new field deployments of armored equipment and troops” leaving existing military installations in forests and fields located between 15 and 30 kilometers from the Russian-Ukrainian border, a message from the company said.
Western countries fear that Ukraine’s intensifying fighting in recent days with pro-Russian separatists will be used as a pretext by Moscow, which has sent 150,000 troops across the Ukrainian border to invade the neighboring country.
Putin attributed the escalation of the conflict to “Ukrainian provocations”. The separatists ordered the departure of civilians and the mobilization of their fighting men.
The evacuation order prompted the displacement of 53,000 civilians, out of the three million who live in the breakaway zone.
Ukrainian President Zelensky denounced the “provocative shots” by the Moscow-backed separatists and called for the resumption of negotiations with Russia, under the mediation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the establishment of a “cessation of conflict”. immediate fire”.
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