The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold telephone calls with U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on February 12 in a lightning round of diplomacy amid growing fears that Russia may be preparing for an invasion of Ukraine as it masses tens of thousands of troops at the border between the two countries.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 11 that the request for a phone call between Putin and Biden came from Washington.
Putin and Biden last spoke by phone in December. Earlier the same month, they held a video conference. The first face-to-face meeting between Putin and Biden as presidents took place in Geneva in June 2021.
The call with Macron, which Peskov confirmed, will come days after the two leaders met in Moscow for more than five hours of talks.
