MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with his US and French counterparts, Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told reporters.
In his words, the Putin-Biden talk is expected to take place on Saturday evening, Moscow time. The conversation was requested by Washington, and "the request was preceded by a letter from the US side," he said.
The last time Putin and Biden held a phone conversation was at the end of last year. Before that, on December 7, they held a video conference. The first face-to-face meeting of Putin and Biden as the heads of state took place in Geneva in June 2021.
Conversation with Macron
According to Peskov, a phone conversation with Macron was also scheduled for Saturday. Agence France-Presse confirmed the report, citing the French presidential administration.
According to the French side, the phone call is expected to be made at about noon Paris time (14:00 Moscow time).
Macron visited Moscow and held more than five-hour talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the following day, the French leader visited Kiev an met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The talks focused on issues of European security and the Ukrainian crisis. After the meeting with Zelensky, Macron said he planned to have another phone call with Putin.
Concerns over Moscow’s alleged preparations for an invasion into Ukraine have been increasingly announced in the West and in Kiev recently. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these statements as an empty and groundless escalation of tension, emphasizing that Russia posed no threat to anyone. At the same time, the Kremlin press secretary did not exclude some possible provocations to justify such claims and warned that the attempts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict by force would carry extremely serious consequences.
The developments coincide with a discussion on European security.
On December 17, 2021, the Russian foreign ministry released a draft agreement on security guarantees between Russia and the United States, and a draft agreement on ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member states. The proposed measures include guarantees that NATO will not advance eastward, including the accession of Ukraine and other countries into the alliance, as well as non-deployment of serious offensive weapons, including nuclear ones. The sides have had several rounds of consultations in various formats but no agreements have yet been announced.