Kremlin Not Ruling Out Possible Contacts between Putin, Biden
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Kremlin does not rule out the possibility of contacts between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden, and if necessary, the leaders of the two states can quickly agree on them, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.
At the same time, Peskov clarified that at the moment it was premature to talk about the organization of any such meeting. Emphasizing that a call or meeting could be set up at any moment between Putin and Biden, the spokesman added:
"The meeting is possible if the heads of state consider it appropriate. Currently, there is a clear, concrete understanding of the need to continue the dialogue at the foreign minister level," Sputnik reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold an extraordinary meeting of the security council on Monday, the Kremlin spokesman said.
“Not a regular one,” Peskov clarified, when asked if the meeting is regular. The spokesman did not reveal what issues will be on the agenda of the meeting.
The Russian presidential spokesman also addressed allegations that there was a Russian ‘hit list’ of Ukrainians that would be "killed or sent to camps" in the event of an “invasion”, saying they are are no more than fiction and fake.
"This is an absolute fiction, such a list does not exist, this is a fake," said Peskov said, responding to a question from journalists.
Reference here was made to an undated letter sent by US Ambassador to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, and first reported by the Washington Post.
Crocker wrote that Russian forces, which had allegedly used tactics such as “targeted killings, kidnappings, illegal detentions, and torture” throughout previous operations, were creating "lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation".
Furthermore, the US official suggested there existed "credible information that Russian forces will likely use lethal measures to disperse peaceful protests or otherwise counter peaceful exercises of perceived resistance from civilian populations".
The letter was published as attempts are underway to use diplomacy to defuse the volatile security situation in the Ukrainian breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (DPR and LPR).
Earlier, Putin and Biden agreed on the principle of a proposed summit to lay out issues related to strategic stability and security in Europe, according to a Sunday release by Elysee. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are slated to meet on 24 February to begin the diplomatic effort.