Putin agrees to talks with Ukraine, European security organization: report
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Sunday to hold three-way talks with Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe amid repeated US warnings Russia plans to invade its eastern neighbor, according to reports.
The meeting, to be held Monday, was scheduled during a phone call between Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron’s office called the talks “the last possible and necessary efforts to avoid a major conflict in Ukraine” and said both leaders agreed on “the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis and to do everything to achieve one,” according to AFP.
But the French and Russian presidents reportedly clashed over who’s to blame for the rising tensions in eastern Ukraine.
During their 105-minute call, Putin cited “provocations carried out by the Ukrainian security forces” and repeated his call for “the United States and NATO to take Russian demands for security guarantees seriously,” according to a statement released by the Kremlin.
Macron said he believed Russian separatists were responsible for the rising risk of war, a French presidential adviser told Reuters.
Macron also spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who tweeted that he informed the French leader about “new provocative shelling” by Russian-backed rebels against Ukrainian forces.
“We stand for intensifying the peace process,” Zelensky added.
The OSCE is made up of 57 countries in Europe, North America and Asia that aims to ensure peace, stability and democracy through non-binding, consensus-based decisions.
Earlier Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters after a meeting of the Munich Security Conference that “we are talking about the real possibility of war in Europe” for the first time since the end of World War II.”
Harris also noted President Biden’s assertion last week that, based on intelligence, “we believe that Putin has made his decision. Period.”
