Threat of invasion of Ukraine: Putin and Biden meet on Tuesday

An appointment written in red in two agendas: Tuesday, December 7, Russian President Vladimir Poutin and US President Joe Biden will finally meet, by videoconference, about the threats hanging over Ukraine.

"We confirm" that this interview will take place on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

The exchange will take place "in the evening" (in Russia) and its duration will be "determined by the presidents themselves," he told Ria Novosti.

The last telephone interview between the two men dates back to July 9.

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On Tuesday, "President Biden will highlight US concerns regarding Russian military activities on the border with Ukraine and reaffirm US support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Jen Psaki, White House spokesperson, in a statement.

Western countries, led by the United States, accuse Moscow of preparing for an imminent invasion of Ukraine.

Unclassified US military documents contemplate a ground operation with 175,000 troops and the Ukrainian defense minister said 94,000 were already deployed.

"I expect that we will have a long discussion with Putin"

Moscow has repeatedly denied any bellicose intention by these deployments, and accused Western countries of increasing "provocations", in particular by carrying out military exercises in the Black Sea, a space that Russia considers its home. “I expect we'll have a long talk with Putin,” Biden told reporters on Friday, as he left for a weekend at Camp David. "I do not accept anyone's red lines," he added, assuring that the United States was preparing a "set of initiatives" to dissuade Russia.

To ease tensions, Moscow is calling for "security guarantees", legally enforceable, in particular the assurance that NATO will not continue to expand eastward, in particular with Ukraine joining.

Kiev, for its part, categorically refuses to abandon such a membership project, formally on the table since 2008.

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Ukraine has been torn apart since 2014 by a war that has left more than 13,000 dead between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.

The conflict started after Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

Since then, Moscow and Kiev have resumed discussions within the framework of the Minsk agreements, under the aegis of France and Germany, which today seem to be sidelined.

Besides Ukraine, the subjects of tension between Washington and Moscow have multiplied in recent months, despite the desire for appeasement displayed by the two presidents during a meeting "in person" in mid-June in Geneva.

Joe Biden wants to address, according to Jen Psaki, "strategic stability, cybernetics and regional issues."

The Biden administration has repeatedly called on Moscow to crack down on ransomware and cybercrime attacks emanating from Russian soil, and in November indicted a Ukrainian national and a Russian in one of the worst ransomware attacks against US targets .

Russia consistently denies carrying out or hosting cyber attacks.