(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden are scheduled to meet by videoconference on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, a much-anticipated exchange at the height of tensions between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.
“We confirm” that this interview will take place on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday, quoted by the Interfax news agency. The exchange will take place “in the evening” (in Russia) and its duration will be “determined by the presidents themselves,” he told Ria Novosti.
The announcement of this interview, which Moscow and Washington have been preparing for several days, comes in a context of strong tensions between Russia and Western countries, which accuse it of preparing an imminent invasion of Ukraine.
Kiev and its allies accuse Russia in particular of having massed troops and tanks on its border in anticipation of an attack.
PHOTO PETER KLAUNZER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vladimir Poutine and Joe Biden at a summit in Geneva last June.
Moscow has several times denied any bellicose tendency and accused Western countries of increasing “provocations”, in particular by carrying out military exercises in the Black Sea, a space that Russia considers to be its home ground.
Ukraine has been torn apart since 2014 by a war that has left more than 13,000 dead between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country. The conflict started after Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.
In this tense climate, Mr. Biden said on Friday that the United States was preparing a “package of initiatives” to make it “very, very difficult for Mr. Putin to do what people fear he is doing”.
To ease tensions, Moscow is calling for “security guarantees” and in particular the assurance that NATO will not continue to expand eastward, in particular with Ukraine joining.
Kiev, for its part, categorically refuses to abandon such a membership project, formally on the table since 2008, but remained in limbo.
In addition to Ukraine, the subjects of tension between Washington and Moscow have multiplied in recent months, despite the desire for appeasement displayed by MM. Putin and Biden at a first summit in June in Geneva.
The two countries have notably embarked on a new arms race and accuse each other of interference.