Washington: US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed on a range of bilateral issues as well as the Ukrainian crisis and the Iran nuclear deal. Biden and Putin discussed through video conference on Tuesday of the US and its European allies about Russia’s escalation of forces surrounding Ukraine.
According to the White House press release after the meeting, Biden made it clear that the US and our Allies would respond with strong economic and other measures in the event of military escalation. US President reiterated his support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy. The two presidents tasked their teams to follow up, and the US will do so in close coordination with allies and partners, it said.
Biden and Putin also discussed the US-Russia dialogue on Strategic Stability, a separate dialogue on ransomware, as well as joint work on regional issues such as Iran, said the statement.
According to the Kremlin statement both leaders mainly focused on the internal crisis in Ukraine during their second talks in six months.
Putin explained to Biden the destructive policy of the Ukrainian authorities and expressed his serious concern about Kiev’s provocative actions against Donbass. He stressed that it is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that is making dangerous attempts to conquer Ukrainian territory and is building up its military potential near the Russian borders. Putin asked Biden for the guarantee that NATO will not expand in the eastern direction and not deploy offensive weapons near Russia. Putin offered Biden to lift all the accumulated restrictions on the functioning of Russian and US diplomatic missions.