The White House has clarified the statements made yesterday by Joe Biden, stressing that the US President does not currently plan to have talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.
"He has no intention of talking to Putin at this time," said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council. "And as [BIDEN] said, Putin has shown absolutely no interest in having any dialogue in fact quite the opposite," he told reporters."
Joe Biden said Thursday that he is "ready to talk with Putin if the latter seeks a way to end the war," noting that the Russian president "has not yet done so."
"If that were the case, then in consultation with my French friends and my NATO friends, I would be happy to sit down with Putin to see what he has in mind. He hasn't done so yet," he said at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Biden's remarks were a sign of Washington's openness to dialogue with the Kremlin over the war in Ukraine, but Moscow "naturally" rejected the proposal today, interpreting it as implying a withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, an option Russia is not considering.
Kirby also denied that the US was pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to resume talks with Moscow.
"The president has not indicated at all that the time has come to hold talks," the US official said. "The war could end today without negotiations if Putin did the right thing and withdrew from Ukraine. His troops have no business there."
Source: APB
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