Putin, Biden discuss several regional files
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden conclude their two-hour virtual summit that discussed regional files, including developments in Ukraine.
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The two presidents agreed that their teams would follow up on the summit.
A two-hour video summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden was concluded.
In a statement after the summit, the White House reported that "Biden voiced the deep concerns of the United States and our European allies about Russia's escalation of forces surrounding Ukraine."
The US president "made clear that the US and our allies would respond with strong economic and other measures in the event of military escalation," the statement read.
Biden also renewed his "support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy,"
The statement confirmed that the two presidents agreed that their teams would follow up on the summit, underlining that the next US move would be "in close coordination with allies and partners."
US national security advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed that Biden will be speaking with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.
Putin's calls for not shifting responsibility on Russia
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin "has called for not shifting responsibility for the escalation of the situation around Ukraine on Russia," the Kremlin press service confirmed in a statement.
The Kremlin described the talks as "frank" and said the Russian president requested Washington provide guarantees NATO will not continue its eastward expansion.
"Russia is seriously interested in obtaining reliable legal guarantees that will exclude NATO's eastward expansion and the deployment of offensive strike weapons in countries adjacent to Russia," the statement mentioned.
According to the Kremlin, Putin proposed to his US counterpart Joe Biden that Moscow and Washington lift all restrictions on embassy staff in both countries.
This is the fifth conversation between Putin and Biden since the latter took office.
The two presidents had communications on phone three times, and in mid-June, they held a face-to-face summit in Geneva, which is was the first since 2018.
Russia denies planning to invade Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday "Russia has never planned to attack anyone."
"But we have our own red lines," he added.
In addition, Russia-based newspaper Kommersant quoted Saturday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying that Russia denied news reports in the US media about a possible Russian attack on Ukraine, accusing Washington of trying to escalate the situation and holding Moscow responsible.
The summit had a direct impact on the Russian market, as it recorded notable growth following the Putin-Biden talks.
