Plans for a meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are currently on hold. The White House announced this on Tuesday evening (local time).
According to spokeswoman Jen Psaki, President Biden is generally open to diplomatic talks, but now, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates, is not the time. She further stressed that the door to diplomacy would never be completely closed but deplored Moscow’s change of course.
A face-to-face meeting between Biden and Putin has often been the topic of conversation in recent days. Biden had agreed to meet in principle, and the Kremlin seemed open to it.
There was no concrete timing yet, but the details would normally be worked out on Thursday during a meeting of US and Russian foreign ministers, but that too has been cancelled.