After The 'Invasion' Of Ukraine, The US Has Called Off The Biden-Putin Summit
Following Moscow's recognition of Ukraine's two separatist regions, the US has canceled high-level meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which the West has seen as laying the basis for an invasion.
Putin and US President Joe Biden had agreed to meet "in principle," according to French President Emmanuel Macron's office, with Biden accepting on the condition that Russia did not attack Ukraine. The Kremlin, on the other hand, has dismissed ideas of a summit as "premature."
Putin signed military cooperation treaties with the breakaway republics of eastern Ukraine this week and despatched so-called "peacekeepers," while Russian senators approved Putin's proposal to send soldiers there.
Ukraine's separatist republics despatched "peacekeepers," while Russian senators approved Putin's proposal to send soldiers to the country.
A Biden-Putin summit "is clearly not in the plans," according to White House spokesperson Jen Psaki, who did leave open the possibility of diplomatic talks if Putin "changes course."
The fast-paced developments also threw a wrench in Lavrov's planned meeting with US State Secretary Antony Blinken on Thursday, which was supposed to prepare the way for the Biden-Putin summit as Western leaders try to stop Russia's advance into Ukraine with diplomacy.