Biden Putin
© Peter Klaunzer - Pool/Keystone via Getty ImagesPresident Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet during the U.S.-Russia summit at Villa La Grange on June 16, 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland.
President Biden agreed "in principle" to hold a summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the White House confirmed on Sunday evening.

Driving the news: Biden said the meeting can only take place if Russia does not invade Ukraine, according to statements from the White House and French President Emmanuel Macron's office, which first announced the news.
  • The agreement was reached following two separate phone calls that Macron had with the U.S. and Russian leaders, according to a statement from the Élysée Palace, which said Putin had also "accepted the principle of such a summit."
What to expect: White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in an emailed statement that the summit would follow Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's scheduled meeting in Europe later this week — which would also only take place if Russia "does not proceed with military action."
  • The proposed meeting between Biden and Putin would be followed by talks involving "relevant stakeholders to discuss security and strategic stability in Europe," per the Élysée Palace.
What they're saying: "As the President has repeatedly made clear, we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins," Psaki said.
  • "President Biden accepted in principle a meeting with President Putin following [Blinken's scheduled meeting with Lavrov], again, if an invasion hasn't happened," she added.
  • "We are always ready for diplomacy. We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war. And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon."
The other side: Kremlin officials said after Putin's call with Macron that he "stressed the necessity for the United States and NATO to take Russia's demands on ensuring security guarantees seriously and to respond to them in a concrete and substantive manner," the Russian news agency Tass reports.


Comment: Note how Putin's comment is constructive and backed by facts whilst the US continues to bleet the same baseless speculation with the intention to smear, just in a variety of ways: 'If Russia does not invade', 'until an invasion begins', 'if an invasion hasn't happened', 'continuing preparations'. Also note how the US continues to avoid responding to Russia's security proposal in any meaningful way; anyone would think that the US actually prefers the situation in Ukraine to remain unstable.


Worth noting The announcement came as President Biden convened a meeting of the National Security Council on Sunday, as U.S. officials warned that Putin was stoking disinformation in order to blame Ukraine if Russian troops were to invade the country.
  • Blinken told CNN earlier on Sunday confirming that his meeting with Lavrov "all depends on what Russia does in the coming days" and that Biden "is prepared to engage President Putin at any time, in any format" if it can prevent war.

Comment: If Blinken really wanted to 'prevent war', why has he not addressed and attempted to further Russia's security proposal?


Meanwhile, the U.S. has warned the UN in a letter that "Russian forces are creating lists" of Ukrainians "to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation."


Comment: Typical pathological projection, because Ukraine has already been censoring, arresting, and even torturing the opposition.


Flashback: Biden and Putin last spoke in a Feb. 12 phone call, when the American president told his Russian counterpart that the U.S. and allies would "respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs" if Russia were to invade Ukraine.