The Kremlin said on Monday there were no concrete plans for a summit on Ukraine between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden, after the French president said the two leaders had agreed. with a meeting in principle.
A summit could offer a possible way out of Europe’s biggest military crisis in decades, and financial markets have rallied in hopes of a diplomatic solution.
However, both Washington and Moscow played down hopes of a breakthrough, and satellite images appeared to show Russian mobilizations closer to Ukraine’s border than before.
Western countries accuse Russia of planning an invasion of its neighbour. Moscow denies planning any attack but has demanded security guarantees, including a promise that Ukraine would never join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) western military alliance.
The situation became even more tense when the Belarus Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday that Russia would extend the military exercises in Belarus that were scheduled to end. Russia has tens of thousands of troops there, north of the Ukrainian border.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that a phone call or meeting between Putin and Biden could be arranged at any time, but there are still no concrete plans for a summit.
Tensions continue to grow, but diplomatic contacts are active and a meeting of foreign ministers is possible this week.
He also stated that Putin will soon address an extraordinary session of the Russian Security Council.
The White House said in a statement that Biden had accepted the meeting “in principle” but only “if an invasion does not take place”.
“We are always ready for diplomacy,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. “We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences if Russia chooses to go to war.”
Western countries are preparing what they say are far-reaching sanctions against Russian companies and individuals if Russia invades, including measures to prevent US financial institutions from processing transactions for major Russian banks, people familiar with the matter said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, arriving in Brussels to meet with his EU counterparts, urged the bloc to start imposing some sanctions on Russia now to show it is firm about wanting to avoid war.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he still saw room for diplomacy but would convene an extraordinary EU meeting to approve sanctions “when the time comes”.
Source: CNN Brasil
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