The meeting between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, could happen only after negotiations at the level of foreign ministers. Nothing is planned right now. On Tuesday, February 22, at a briefing, the broadcast of which was posted on the website of the White House, said the representative of the Administration, Jen Psaki.
On the same day, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced the cancellation of a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which was scheduled for February 24, since it makes no sense in the context of the “invasion” of Ukraine that has begun.
Commenting on the cancellation of the meeting between Blinken and Lavrov, Psaki said: “We will never completely close the door to diplomacy, and I don’t think the Secretary of State did that. But building on what he said, diplomacy will not succeed unless Russia changes course. He said that it would be wrong to hold such a meeting with his colleague, Minister Lavrov.”
According to her, “it was originally planned that any contact with Putin would follow after that. So there are no plans for that at the moment.”
Answering a question about what will affect the return of the issue of a meeting of the heads of the two states to the agenda, Psaki indicated that Moscow should head for de-escalation.
On February 19, Blinken announced plans to meet with his Russian counterpart on February 24. He told Lavrov that he would be glad to see him if Russia did not “invade Ukraine” by the time of the scheduled negotiations.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the LPR and DPR and agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance. On February 22, the Russian leader signed federal laws on the ratification of friendship and cooperation treaties with the DPR and LPR.
Since 2014, the Ukrainian authorities have been conducting a military operation against the inhabitants of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’état and the new government in Ukraine. At the same time, Kiev blames Moscow for the current situation. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the intra-Ukrainian conflict. The issues of its settlement are being discussed in the Minsk and Normandy formats.
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