U.S. President Joe Biden accepted a meeting with Putin in the event that Russia does not invade Ukraine
https://www.yenisafak.com-Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
There are no “concrete plans” for a Ukraine summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
“It’s premature to talk about any specific plans for organizing any kind of summits,” Peskov told reporters, adding that a call or meeting could be set up at any moment.
Peskov said he does not see any improvement of the situation in Donbas, pointing out that shelling is only getting worse.
“The situation is really extremely tense, and so far we have not seen signs of a decrease in the level of tensions. Provocations and shelling are becoming more and more intense; this causes very deep concern,” he stressed.
U.S. President Joe Biden accepted a meeting with Putin “in principle,” in the event that Russia does not invade Ukraine, the White House announced Sunday.
In a statement, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are “scheduled to meet later this week in Europe, provided Russia does not proceed with military action.”
The same day, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke separately with Putin and Biden, proposing a meeting between the two, according to the French presidency.
Biden and Putin “have both accepted the principle of such a summit,” said the Elysee palace.
Tensions have risen dramatically in eastern Ukraine, with a growing number of cease-fire violations, multiple shelling incidents, and the evacuation of civilians from the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Western countries have accused Russia of amassing more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, prompting fears that it could be planning a military offensive against its former Soviet neighbor.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any plan to invade Ukraine and instead accused Western countries of undermining Russia’s security through NATO’s expansion toward its borders