Biden agrees 'in principle' to meet with Putin on Ukraine as tensions rise


The White House said Sunday that President Biden had agreed "in principle" to meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Ukraine crisis. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the two leaders could speak after Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Feb. 24, provided Russia has not sent troops into Ukraine. "We are always ready for diplomacy. We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war," Psaki said.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with Putin on Sunday to push negotiations for a possible ceasefire between Russian-backed forces and Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country, the Élysée Palace said. The two spoke again on Monday, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, who added that "tensions are rising" and that it was "too early to to talk about concrete plans for organizing any summits."
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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