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.
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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.”
Meanwhile, Bathsheba Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has warned the UN that “Russian forces are creating lists” of Ukrainians “to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation,” according to a letter to the UN obtained by the Washington Post on Sunday night.
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.”
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.
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“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.
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“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.”
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.
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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.
Go deeper: Biden and Putin are live-blogging a pre-war
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
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