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Biden says he’s prepared to speak with Putin about ending military activities in Ukraine

US President has no immediate plans to contact with Russian leader

WASHINGTON, December 1. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden is prepared to discuss the possibility of ending military activities in Ukraine with Russian leader Vladimir Putin but has no immediate plans to contact him, as Biden himself said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.

"The fact and the matter is that I have no immediate plans to contact Mr Putin," he said, adding that he would choose his words very carefully. "I’m prepared to speak with Mr Putin if in fact there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war. He hasn’t done that yet. If that’s the case, in consultation with my French and my NATO friends, I will be happy to sit down with Putin to see what he has in mind," Biden pointed out.

"In the meantime, I think it’s absolutely critical what Emmanuel [Macron] said: we must support the Ukrainian people," the US president stressed.

Macron, in turn, stated that he intended to continue talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. "I will continue to speak with President Putin because I have been trying to prevent an escalation and achieve specific goals, particularly with regard to the security of nuclear power plants in the conflict zone, namely the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant," Macron noted. "There is a need to maintain dialogue and we will do it," the French president emphasized.