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Washington, Feb 21 US President Joe Biden has accepted “in precept” a gathering with President Vladimir Putin supplied Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine, the White Home has stated, in a last-ditch diplomatic overture brokered by French President Emmanuel Macron to ease one of many worst safety crises in Europe in many years.
The US has repeatedly warned of Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine and threatened to impose powerful sanctions on Moscow if it goes forward with its plans. Nonetheless, Russia has denied that it plans to assault Ukraine.
“Because the President has repeatedly made clear, we’re dedicated to pursuing diplomacy till the second an invasion begins,” White Home Press Secretary Jen Psaki stated in a press release on Sunday.
Psaki stated that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov are scheduled to fulfill later this week in Europe, supplied Russia doesn’t proceed with army motion.
“President Biden accepted in precept a gathering with President Putin following that engagement, once more, if an invasion hasn’t occurred. We’re at all times prepared for diplomacy,” she stated.
Russia’s army buildup
Psaki stated that Biden spoke with Macron on Sunday and the 2 leaders mentioned ongoing diplomacy and deterrence efforts in response to Russia’s army buildup on the borders of Ukraine.
President Macron’s workplace in a press release on Sunday stated that he spoke with Biden and Putin and proposed a summit to be held between the 2 leaders.
“Presidents Biden and Putin have each accepted the precept of such a summit,” the assertion stated, including that the substance needs to be ready by Blinken and Lavrov throughout their assembly on February 24.
President Macron instructed there could possibly be one other summit with related stakeholders to debate safety and strategic stability in Europe, the assertion stated.
It harassed that the assembly can solely be held on the situation that Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine.
Responding to the prospect of a gathering, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday stated a name or a gathering could possibly be arrange at any second between Putin and Biden nevertheless it was untimely to speak in regards to the organisation of any such assembly for the time being, state-run information company Sputnik reported.
“The assembly is feasible if the heads of state think about it acceptable. At present, there’s a clear, concrete understanding of the necessity to proceed the dialogue at overseas minister stage,” he was quoted as saying.
In line with US estimates, Russia has amassed over 150,000 in and close to Ukraine, up from about 100,000 on January 30.
“We’re additionally able to impose swift and extreme penalties ought to Russia as a substitute select battle. And at present, Russia seems to be persevering with preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very quickly,” Psaki stated.
The event comes after Blinken in an interview to CNN stated that Biden is ready to have interaction with Putin in any format, at anywhere and time to stop a battle.
Blinken asserted that every little thing main as much as the precise invasion of Ukraine seems to be going down.
“As we’ve got described it, every little thing main as much as the precise invasion seems to be going down, all of those false flag operations, all of those provocations to create justifications. All of that’s already in prepare,” Blinken informed CNN.
“We imagine President Putin has made the choice, however till the tanks are literally rolling and the planes are flying, we’ll use each alternative and each minute we’ve got to see if diplomacy can nonetheless dissuade President Putin from carrying this ahead,” he stated.
“President Biden is ready to have interaction President Putin at any time, in any format, if that may assist forestall a battle. I reached out to my Russian counterpart, Overseas Minister (Sergey) Lavrov, to induce that we meet subsequent week in Europe. The plan remains to be to do this, until Russia invades within the meantime,” Blinken stated in response to a query.
Putin’s demand
Putin has been demanding assurances that NATO won’t admit Ukraine, a former Soviet state with shut ties to Russia, whereas the Western alliance denies it poses any menace to Russia.
There are fears {that a} Russian army intervention might begin a battle even bloodier than the battle in jap Ukraine which has price at the least 14,000 lives.
Blinken has alleged that Russia is attempting to create a sequence of provocations as justifications for aggression in opposition to Ukraine going ahead.
He stated that the US, with its European companions and allies, have ready a large bundle of sanctions in opposition to Russia in case of an invasion of Ukraine.
“The G7 nations in Munich got here collectively, reiterated that there can be huge penalties for Russia if it pursues this aggression,” he stated.
Warns Russian of punitive motion
In the meantime, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday categorically dominated out deployment of American troops in Ukraine and warned Moscow of punitive sanctions if its troops crossed over the border.
Referring to the character of deployment of Russian troops on the border of Ukraine, he stated there’s a vital quantity of fight energy transferring in a short time now to take Kyiv.
On Friday, Russia introduced nuclear drills, at the same time as leaders of countries from the West regarded for methods to ease the tensions.
UN Secretary Basic Antonio Guterres on Friday warned that it will be “catastrophic” if the Russia-Ukraine battle escalated right into a battle, whereas underlining that there was “no various to diplomacy.”
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February 21, 2022
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