Posted on 12/29/21
| News Source: i24
The two will discuss 'a range of topics, including the upcoming diplomatic engagements'
United States President Joe Biden will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, the White House announced Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Reuters the call is planned for "late Thursday evening."
The two will discuss "a range of topics, including the upcoming diplomatic engagements," National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement.
Horne says in the statement that Biden spoke with leaders across Europe regarding the situation on the Ukrainian border, and administration officials "have engaged multilaterally with NATO, the European Union, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe."
Kyiv accuses Moscow of massing tens of thousands of troops in preparation for a possible offensive. Russia denies this, and in turn, accuses Ukraine and the US of destabilizing behavior.
Moscow said it wants legally-binding guarantees NATO will not expand further eastwards, worried by what it claims is the West's re-arming of Ukraine.
According to a senior Biden official, US concerns have not ebbed, Reuters reported.
"We are at a moment of crisis and have been for some weeks now given the Russian build-up, and it will take a high level of engagement to address this and to find a path of de-escalation," said the official, who declined to be named, according to Reuters.
The official also said Putin was the one to request the call.
"When President Biden has asked to speak with President Putin over the course of 2021, President Putin has said, Yes, let's talk. And when President Putin says, I'm interested in touching base and having a phone call, President Biden says yes."