White House officials confirmed Friday that there are currently no plans for President Biden to talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding an end to the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Biden himself had said just a day prior that while he would be open to meeting with Putin to try and find common ground, the conditions for such a meeting were currently not on the table. This was reiterated by national security spokesperson John Kirby, who said, “We’re just not at a point now where talks seem to be a fruitful avenue to approach right now,” per Reuters.
Kirby further told reporters that Biden’s overall position on Russia had not changed, despite his willingness to extend a hand to Putin.
“The president has been very consistent about that,” Kirby said, per The New York Times. “He’s got no intentions to talk to Mr. Putin right now. As he also said, Putin has shown absolutely no inclination to be interested in dialogue of any kind. In fact, quite the contrary. Everything he’s doing shows that Mr. Putin is interested in continuing this illegal, unprovoked war.”
This sentiment was echoed by Russia, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying that while Putin remained open to negotiations, talks were unlikely to be had any time soon, NPR reported. “The U.S. still doesn’t recognize new territories of the Russian Federation,” Peskov said, referencing four illegally annexed regions of Ukraine that the international community has refused to recognize as part of Russia. “That complicates the search for grounds on which to hold mutual discussion.”
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