President Biden And President Putin Agree To Planned Meeting On Ukraine To Avoid Crisis In Europe

President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva, Switzerland last year. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed in principle a summit on Ukraine, the US and French leaders said, offering a possible way out of one of Europe's most dangerous crises in decades.

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Monday he had put the two leaders at a summit on "strategic security and stability in Europe."

While the White House said in a statement President Biden had accepted the meeting "in principle", but only "if an invasion does not occur."

"We are always ready for diplomacy. (But) we are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences if Russia chooses war," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, citing Reuters February 21.

A call for comment from the Kremlin was not immediately returned on Monday morning.

Many details about the proposed summit, which was announced after a series of phone calls between President Macron, President Biden, President Putin and British leader Boris Johnson, are not yet clear.

President Macron's office and the White House said the substance of the summit would be discussed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an upcoming meeting planned for February 24.

News of the discussion comes after tensions escalated in the past week, sparked by Russia's military buildup around the Ukrainian border. Russian troops have been rallying around its neighbors since late last year, something Western countries say was the start of the invasion.

The anxiety grew when the Belarusian Ministry of Defense announced that Russia would extend military drills in Belarus that ended on Sunday. Satellite images appear to show new deployments of Russian armor and troops in farms and forests near Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the extension of the drills made him more worried that Russia was on the verge of invasion. Moscow has repeatedly denied the plans.