Biden prepares to meet with Putin as Russia decides whether to recognize the independence of the 'DNR' and 'LNR'

Biden agreed "in principle" to meet with Putin in the near future, on the condition that the invasion did not begin, the White House announced on the evening of January 20. The exact time and place of such a conversation has not been determined, but if it takes place, then some time after the meeting scheduled for this week, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said CBS News US official.

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Presidents of Russia and the United States Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden agreed to the invitation of French counterpart Emmanuel Macron to hold a security summit in Europe, the press service of the Elysee Palace reported.

“He (French President Macron) proposed a summit between President Biden and President Putin and then with all stakeholders on security and strategic stability in Europe. Presidents Biden and Putin accepted the principle of such a summit.

The agenda for the talks should be prepared by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who will talk additionally on February 24, they said. RBC.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that the American president is ready to meet with his Russian counterpart, provided that there is no invasion of Ukraine.

Prior to the summit proposal, Macron held telephone conversations with both Putin and Biden. In a conversation with Putin, he agreed to organize negotiations of the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas "in the next few hours." In addition, the presidents of Russia and France agreed to resume work in the Normandy format and agreed that it is necessary to seek a diplomatic solution to the current crisis in eastern Ukraine.

After that, Macron spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In addition, the French leader called Putin again.

US intelligence

The US has intelligence that Russian commanders have been ordered to continue invading Ukraine, and commanders on the ground are making specific plans for how they will maneuver in their sectors of the battlefield.

The orders do not mean an invasion is imminent, as Russian President Vladimir Putin can still change the orders if he changes his mind, the official said.

After weeks of warnings that an invasion of Ukraine was imminent, President Biden told reporters on Feb. 18 that he was "convinced" that Putin had made the decision to invade Ukraine and said the US believed Russian forces intended to attack in "the coming days."

Blinken said the US still believes Russia is "moving forward" with invasion plans, despite Moscow's denials.

“Everything we see tells us that the decision to invade, which we believe President Putin made, is moving forward,” Blinken said. “We saw this with provocations carried out by Russian or separatist forces over the weekend, false flag operations, and this morning news broke that Russia was conducting a ‘training’ in Belarus involving 30 Russian troops.”

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Russia has concentrated some 150 troops, combat aircraft and equipment on three sides of Ukraine, escalating tensions. The Belarusian Defense Minister also announced that Russia would extend military exercises taking place in the country near the northern borders of Ukraine, during which a large contingent of Russian troops arrived in Belarus.

More recently, Germany and Austria have called on their citizens to leave the country. The US Embassy in Ukraine has also temporarily shifted its operations from Kiev to Lviv due to the accelerating buildup of Russian forces.

The US Embassy in Moscow issued a warning security services on February 20, warning that "according to sources, there are threats of attacks on shopping malls, railway and metro stations, and other crowded places in large urban areas, including Moscow and St. Petersburg", and also in areas of high tension along the Russian-Ukrainian border.”

The State Department alert urges US citizens in Russia to take a number of actions, including avoiding crowds and having evacuation plans that are not dependent on federal government assistance.

While senior US officials have warned that Russia is ready to strike Ukraine and the Pentagon has deployed some 5000 troops to Eastern Europe to support NATO forces, the Biden administration continues to consider the diplomatic option. The President emphasized that American troops would not enter Ukraine in the event of a Russian invasion.

“My job as a diplomat is to prevent war, and if I can do anything about it, I will do it,” Blinken said on February 20. “President Biden has made it clear that he is willing to meet with President Putin at any time in any format if it helps prevent war.”

Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, said Ukrainian officials are using "every opportunity" to force Russia to choose the diplomatic path rather than attack.

“We call on not only the aggressor that is Russia, but all of our friends and allies to come together and use every opportunity to continue to keep Russia from invading,” she told Face the Nation.

Markarova said that while Ukraine will "work day and night to use every opportunity to prevent a Russian invasion," the events of the past few days indicate that an escalation is likely, contrary to comments by Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov that no there is no Russian invasion plan.

“What we see now is that Russian troops not only did not leave the borders of Ukraine, but also launched an offensive over the past three days,” she said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also urged Putin to meet with him to work on a resolution to the crisis, but he also criticized Western leaders meeting on February 19 at a security conference in Munich, saying they do not need to wait for a Russian attack in order to impose sanctions. .

The Biden administration warned that if Putin ordered an attack on Ukraine, it would have dire consequences for Russia, and Blinken said on February 20 that imposing sanctions on Russia now would mean losing the "deterrent effect."

“Once you start sanctions, you lose the deterrent effect,” he said. “As long as there is even one minute of time during which we can deter and prevent war, we will try to use it.”

Blinken added that the US does not want to publicly disclose its plans, as "it will alert Russia."

Security Council of Russia

On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin held an emergency meeting of the country's Security Council, reports with the BBC.
The speakers of the State Duma and the Federation Council called for the recognition of the independence of the “DNR” and “LNR”. Other officials followed. Putin's decision is expected on February 21.

“We see threats and blackmail from our Western colleagues... We need to answer the question of recognition,” Putin said and gave the floor to Medvedev, who during his time as president recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia. pic.twitter.com/ZZPu0uJ0lf

- Kremlin pool RIA (@Kremlinpool_RIA) February 21, 2022

“I heard your opinion. The decision will be made. Today,” Putin said after listening to the positions of the meeting participants.

“I didn’t discuss anything with any of you in advance.”

On February 21, Putin convened an extended unscheduled meeting of the Russian Security Council. At the very beginning of the meeting, he stated that it would consider the appeals of the leaders of the "DPR" and "LPR" with a request for recognition of their sovereignty. They were published simultaneously shortly before Putin began the meeting in Moscow.

“The purpose of our meeting today is to listen to our colleagues and determine our next steps in this direction, bearing in mind both the appeals of the leaders of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic” to Russia with a request for recognition of their sovereignty, and the resolution of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on the same topic,” Putin said.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense Sergei Lavrov and Sergei Shoigu, as well as FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak and others spoke at the meeting.

Putin said that the Ukrainian authorities are not going to implement the Minsk agreements. Kozak agreed with him. “In the normal course of events, this will not happen. They never will,” he said.

Kozak asked Putin if the president wanted to hear the answer right now to the question of whether the “DPR” and “LPR” should be annexed to Russia. Putin asked him not to rush.

Shoigu said that 90% of Donetsk was left without water, and two-thirds of Lugansk residents lacked gas. A miner was killed in Donetsk, more than 40 attacks were recorded on Monday, “and they understand where they are hitting.”

Since February 14, efforts have been observed to bring the Ukrainian army to the highest level of combat readiness, which gives reason to assume that an offensive in the Donbass is being prepared again, Shoigu said. “This hasn’t happened for a long time. We have almost reached the indicators of 14-15,” he claims, estimating the number of Ukrainian military personnel in Donbass at almost 60 thousand.

The Ukrainian authorities both on February 21 and earlier called fake reports about preparations for an offensive and shelling. Kiev says it is not preparing for an offensive in the Donbass.

Putin, again returning to the issue of recognizing the sovereignty of the “DPR” and “LPR,” gave the floor to the first deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev. He spoke about “mass repressions” and shelling. According to him, it can be assumed that the set of measures provided for in the Minsk agreements will not be implemented. According to Medvedev, it is not in the political interests of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to implement these agreements.

“We are faced with a difficult dilemma related to the recognition of these two territories,” Medvedev continued. He recalled how he made the decision to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia in 2008. Medvedev claims that his decision saved “hundreds of thousands of lives” of people who live there.

“Today the situation is both more complicated and in some ways simpler... The scale of the conflict is not comparable... Taking into account the analysis carried out by the Minister of Defense,” Medvedev added.

According to him, Moscow knows all the difficulties that Russia will face in the event of aggression against Ukraine related to sanctions. “It will be difficult... But after a while... This tension around our country will subside,” Medvedev suggested. The West, according to his forecast, will itself ask to return to discussing security issues.

The only way out remains recognition of the sovereignty of the “DPR” and “LPR,” as Medvedev concluded at the end of his speech. Russian society must still express the mood, he made a reservation. And he suggested that the majority of citizens “would support such a step.”

“Each of you knows,” Putin said further. “I didn’t discuss anything with any of you in advance.” I didn’t ask your opinion in advance.”

He explained this by saying that he wanted to know the opinion of the members of the Security Council without additional preparation. And he gave the floor to the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin. He recalled that the State Duma had already made a decision. 351 deputies spoke in favor of sending an appeal to Putin with a request to recognize the "DNR" and "LNR".

“Western partners can be given one last chance”

The situation in the “DPR” and “LPR” is critical, “people are dying,” deputies believe that Kyiv is deliberately sabotaging the Minsk agreements, as Volodin said. The situation has not changed, he claims, for eight years.

“Therefore, we ask you to consider the State Duma’s appeal and recognize the sovereignty of the DPR and LPR,” Volodin concluded.

Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko further described the situation using the words “genocide” and “blockade.” She also called for recognition of the “DPR” and “LPR”. “You can’t put it off, you have to make a decision,” she said.

Then Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev spoke and called for negotiations with the United States, calling Washington the main negotiator on Ukraine. He urged Putin to negotiate with President Joe Biden and convey to him the idea that Moscow is going to support the people in Donbass. From what Patrushev said, it followed that Washington could meet Putin halfway, although he himself does not believe in this and considers recognition the only way out.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, like Medvedev, spoke about the expected sanctions, but in his short speech he supported Patrushev - to bring Moscow’s position to Washington, and if there is no “movement”, recognize the “DPR” and “LPR”.
The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, whom Putin addressed as “Sergei,” continued the same line as the others. Elimination of the conflict between the “Kyiv regime” and Donbass, according to him, is possible only by decisive methods. At the same time, he called reports about Russia’s preparations for an invasion of Ukraine “war propaganda.”

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Naryshkin recalled the annexation of Crimea and suggested that Russia should do the same as in 2004, but acknowledged the opportunity to give Western partners a “last chance” (“in order to offer them to quickly force Kiev to make peace and implement the Minsk agreements ").

Independence or entry into Russia?

The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service also said that he supported the proposal for the entry of the "DPR" and "LPR" into Russia, to which Putin noted that while the Security Council was discussing the issue of recognizing their sovereignty.

“We don't talk about it. We don't discuss this. We are talking about recognition of their independence or not,” the Russian president explained.

“Yes, I support the proposal to recognize independence,” Naryshkin corrected.

“It is definitely necessary to recognize these republics,” said Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, proposing to expand the borders to Mariupol.

After the discussion, Putin asked if there were other points of view. "No?" - He did not hear any objections.

At the end of the meeting, Lavrov cited the example of other countries with territorial conflicts where dialogue is taking place. He accused Kyiv of attacking the Slavs and “everything Russian.” And Shoigu, returning to the podium, spoke about people who “learned to live in basements” and “pumping” Ukraine with weapons. The head of the Russian Guard, Viktor Zolotov, also spoke about “genocide” and “life in basements”: “We need to go even further to defend our country.”

Until now, Putin and other representatives of the Russian government have recognized Ukraine's sovereignty over parts of the Donbas not controlled by Kiev. Now Putin can change this approach. The decision to recognize states in Russia is made by the president.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on February 21 that he had addressed the UN Security Council member states with a request to urgently discuss the issues of de-escalation and ensuring the security of Ukraine, based on the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum.

Putin had two phone calls with French President Emmanuel Macron the day before. The Elysee Palace reported that both Putin and Biden agreed in principle to hold a bilateral summit. The ruble and the markets strengthened on this news, but in the afternoon there was a wave of reports from the “DPR” and “LPR” about shelling, in which both the ruble and the markets collapsed, and the Kremlin announced the holding of the Russian Security Council.

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