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Biden agrees to meet Putin ‘in principle’ if there is no invasion


US President Joe Biden (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet during the Russia-US summit at Villa La Grange on June 16, 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Peter Klaunzer | beautiful pictures

chairperson Joe Biden accepted “in principle” a meeting with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin in what could represent a last-ditch diplomatic effort to tensions around Ukraine and a possible path to avert a lurking invasion directed by Moscow.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said Sunday evening that the summit between the two world leaders will take place after a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. That meeting is scheduled for later this week.

Psaki noted that the agreement was conditional on Moscow preventing an invasion.

“As the President has repeatedly made clear, we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until an invasion begins,” Psaki said in a statement. “In principle, President Biden has accepted a meeting with President Putin after that skirmish, again, if an invasion doesn’t happen. We’re always ready for diplomacy.”

News of a one-on-one possibility between Biden and Putin comes as the White House warns that a Russian Invasion of Ukraine can come at any time. For weeks, Moscow has built up military forces on the northern and eastern borders of its former Soviet neighbor, with recent totals putting Russia’s forces at around 190,000.

The threat of a Russian attack has kept global markets competitive for weeks, with oil prices soaring and stocks volatile.

Wide S&P 500tracks the equity performance of the largest US companies, which fell 3.69% in February, while Nasdaq Composite fell 4.8%. West Texas Crude Oil Contract rose 4.2% in the past month.

The possibility of a forced conflict Biden earlier on Sunday to cancel plans to return to his home in Delaware after a two-hour meeting with his national security team.

Sunday’s rare National Security Council meeting began around noon and lasted a little more than two hours, according to reporters who watched attendees arrive and then leave the White House grounds. The sudden cancellation of the president’s weekend plans has taken on great significance in recent days as the administration believes an impending Russian attack.

Biden spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, who emerged as a key diplomat between the US and Russia during the frenetic weekend. Macron’s office said that this weekend alone, the French president spoke with Biden, Putin, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

So far, Moscow has insisted it has no plans to invade Ukraine and has said its forces in Belarus will conduct drills next week.

Despite US concerns that Russia could strike any day, the White House has stressed that diplomacy remains. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appeared to have left room for a peaceful resolution when he spoke to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

“They have every capability ready to launch an attack on Ukraine without any warning. No one denies that Russia has all these forces,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. “The question is will they launch an attack?”

Those comments came as the Russian military launched ballistic and cruise missiles on Saturday, what the Kremlin called a “planned exercise of strategic deterrence forces.”

– Christina Wilkie of CNBC contributed reporting

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