- Foreign Policy
VIVA – The president of United States, Joe Biden said he is ready for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time since the Ukraine invasion if the Russian leader truly wants to end the war. Joe Biden said this during a state visit by the President of French, Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, December 1, 2022.
Emmanuel Macron explained that he would speak again with Vladimir Putin after visiting Joe Biden. At a joint press conference with Macron, Biden said he had no immediate plans to contact Putin, but he also did not discount the possibility of talks with the Russian president.
"I'm ready to talk to Mr. Putin if there is interest in him finding a way to end the war. He hasn't," Biden said, as quoted by NDTV, Friday, December 2, 2022.
"If that were the case, in consultation with my French and NATO friends, I would be happy to sit down with Putin to see what he thinks. But he hasn't," Joe Biden added.
Presiden Amerika Serikat (AS) Joe Biden.
- AP Photo/Matt Slocum
Biden and Macron both vowed long-term support to Ukraine against the Russian invaders. "There is one way for this war to end, a rational way. Putin withdraws from Ukraine, number one. But it doesn't look like he's going to do it," Biden said.
"Bombing nurseries, hospitals, children's homes. It's sick what he's doing. The idea that Putin is ever going to defeat Ukraine is beyond comprehension," Joe Biden said.
Before the February 24 invasion as Russia massed troops along the Ukrainian border, Biden and his top diplomat, US Secretary of State Antony
Blinken spoke to Russia and warned of the consequences of invading Ukraine first. Blinken is also known to have spoken to his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, since the invasion but only discussed proposals to release Americans imprisoned by Russia. Macron said he plans to talk to Putin about the security of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine.
"I will continue to talk with President Putin, to prevent escalation, and achieve the real results." Macron remarked.
But like Biden, Macron said he would not push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into any peace plan that he did not accept. "We will never push Ukraine to make compromises that are not acceptable to them," Macron said.
As information, Macron also said Zelensky has shown a real willingness to make peace with Russia.
