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Bloomberg
The Kremlin said there are “no concrete plans†for a summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, throwing into question the fate of a French proposal that seemed to offer fresh hope for averting an alleged Russian plan to attack Ukraine.
US officials said the meeting, proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron, would occur only if Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine. The discussion would focus on security and strategic stability in Europe, followed by a second summit with relevant stakeholders, the French presidential office said in a statement.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t rule out the possibility of a presidential meeting, but said that’s “premature.†In two phone calls, Macron and Putin had agreed details only on continuing dialogue at the level of foreign ministers, Peskov said. He also announced that Putin is holding a special meeting of his Security Council but declined to comment on the agenda. The body’s infrequent meetings are often devoted to major policy issues.
Moscow continues to deny it plans to invade Ukraine and says it is already pulling troops back from areas near the border, though the US and its allies have disputed that.
Russia’s parliament has appealed to Putin to formally recognise the Russian-backed separatist quasi-states in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, a move western officials have said would torpedo the peace process there. News of the proposed meeting came as top US and European officials warned of intelligence they said showed that Putin had made the decision to pursue an invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
Russia’s benchmark stock gauge extended declines after Peskov’s comments, trading down 3.7% in Moscow. It was unclear what new proposals the US and Russian leaders might discuss at a potential meeting. Washington has rejected Moscow’s demands for sweeping security guarantees — including a promise that Ukraine will never join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and a major rollback of the alliance’s presence in eastern Europe. The Kremlin has said it won’t back down on those. Russian officials have said they’re willing to negotiate on other issues where the US did offer talks, including limits on missile deployments and military maneuvers in Europe.